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A  SOURCE  BOOK  OF 
MEDIEVAL     HISTORY 


DOCUMENTS    ILLUSTRATIVE    OP   EUROPEAN    LIFE   AND 

INSTITUTIONS    FROM    THE    GERMAN    INVASIONS 

TO   THE    RENAISSANCE 


EDITED  BY 

FREDERIC  AUSTIN  OGG,  A.  M. 

ASSISTANT     IN     HISTORY     IN     HARVARD     UNIVERSITY 
AND    INSTRUCTOR    IN    SIMMONS    COLLEGE 


NEW  YORK  •  •  CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
FREDERIC  AUSTIN  OGG 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 

w.  P.     I 


..... 

THLMAS    i     MCCABE 


PREFACE 

This  book  has  been  prepared  in  consequence  of  a  conviction,  de- 
rived from  some  years  of  teaching  experience,  (1)  that  sources,  of 
proper  kind  and  in  carefully  regulated  amount,  can  profitably  be 
made  use  of  by  teachers  and  students  of  history  in  elementary  college 
classes,  in  academies  and  preparatory  schools,  and  in  the  more  ad- 
vanced years  of  the  average  high  school,  and  (2)  that  for  mediaeval 
history  there  exists  no  published  collection  which  is  clearly  adapted 
to  practical  conditions  of  work  in  such  classes  and  schools. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  a  source  book  designed  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  teachers  and  classes  in  the  better  grade  of  secondary 
schools,  and  perhaps  in  the  freshman  year  of  college  work,  ought  to 
comprise  certain  distinctive  features,  first,  with  respect  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  selections  presented,  and,  secondly,  in  regard  to  general 
arrangement  and  accompanying  explanatory  matter.  In  the  choice 
of  extracts  I  have  sought  to  be  guided  by  the  following  considera- 
tions: (1)  that  in  all  cases  the  materials  presented  should  be  of  real 
value,  either  for  the  historical  information  contained  in  them  or  for 
the  more  or  less  indirect  light  they  throw  upon  mediaeval  life  or  condi- 
tions; (2)  that,  for  the  sake  of  younger  students,  a  relatively  large  pro- 
portion of  narrative  (annals,  chronicles,  and  biography)  be  introduced 
and  the  purely  documentary  material  be  slightly  subordinated;  (3)  that, 
despite  this  principle,  documents  of  vital  importance,  such  as  Magna 
Charta  and  Unam  Sanctam,  which  cannot  be  ignored  in  even  the  most 
hasty  or  elementary  study,  be  presented  with  some  fulness;  and  (4)  that, 
in  general,  the  rule  should  be  to  give  longer  passages  from  fewer  sources, 
rather  than  more  fragmentary  ones  from  a  wider  range. 

With  respect  to  the  manner  of  presenting  the  selections,  I  have 
sought:  (1)  to  offer  careful  translations — some  made  afresh  from  the 
printed  originals,  others  adapted  from  good  translations  already  avail- 
able— but  with  as  much  simplification  and  modernization  of  language 
as  close  adherence  to  the  sense  will  permit.     Literal,  or  nearly  literal, 

3 

M166263 


4  PREFACE 

translations  are  obviously  desirable  for  maturer  students,  but,  because 
of  the  involved  character  of  mediaeval  writings,  are  rarely  readable, 
and  are  as  a  rule  positively  repellent  to  the  young  mind;  (2)  to  pro- 
vide each  selection,  or  group  of  selections,  with  an  introductory  ex- 
planation, containing  the  historical  setting  of  the  extract,  with  perhaps 
some  comment  on  its  general  significance,  and  also  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  writer,  particularly  when  he  is  an  authority  of  exceptional  im- 
portance, as  Einhard,  Joinville,  or  Froissart;  and  (3)  to  supply,  in  foot- 
notes, somewhat  detailed  aid  to  the  understanding  of  obscure  allusions, 
omitted  passages,  and  especially  place  names  and  technical  terms. 

For  permission  to  reprint  various  translations,  occasionally  verbatim 
but  usually  in  adapted  form,  I  am  under  obligation  to  the  following: 
Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Co.,  publishers  of  Miss  Henry's  trans- 
lation of  Dante's  De  Monarchia;  Messrs.  Henry  Holt  and  Co., 
publishers  of  Lee's  Source  Book  of  English  History;  Messrs.  Ginn  and 
Co.,  publishers  of  Robinson's  Readings  in  European  History;  Messrs. 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  publishers  of  Thatcher  and  McNeal's  Source 
Book  for  Mediceval  History;  Messrs.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  publishers 
of  Robinson  and  Rolfe's  Petrarch;  and  Professor  W.  E.  Lingelbach,  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  representing  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania Translations  and  Reprints  from  the  Original  Sources  of  European 
History. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  book  I  have  received  invaluable  assistance 
from  numerous  persons,  among  whom  the  following,  at  least,  should 
be  named:  Professor  Samuel  B.  Harding,  of  the  University  of  Indiana, 
who  read  the  entire  work  in  manuscript  and  has  followed  its  progress 
from  the  first  with  discerning  criticism;  Professor  Charles  H.  Haskins, 
of  Harvard  University,  who  has  read  most  of  the  proof-sheets,  and 
whose  scholarship  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  problems  of 
history  teaching  have  contributed  a  larger  proportion  of  whatever 
merits  the  book  possesses  than  I  dare  attempt  to  reckon  up;  and 
Professors  Charles  Gross  and  Ephraim  Emerton,  likewise  of  Harvard, 
whose  instruction  and  counsel  have  helped  me  over  many  hard  places. 

The  final  word  must  be  reserved  for  my  wife,  who,  as  careful  amanu- 
ensis, has  shared  the  burden  of  a  not  altogether  easy  task. 

FREDERIC  AUSTIN  OGG. 

Cambridge,  Mass. 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  NATURE  AND  USE  OF  HISTORICAL  SOURCES 

If  one  proposes  to  write  a  history  of  the  times  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
how  shall  one  begin,  and  how  proceed?  Obviously,  the  first  thing 
needed  is  information,  and  as  much  of  it  as  can  be  had.  But  how  shall 
information,  accurate  and  trustworthy,  be  obtained?  Of  course  there 
are  plenty  of  books  on  Lincoln,  and  histories  enough  covering  the 
period  of  his  career  to  fill  shelf  upon  shelf.  It  would  be  quite  possible 
to  spread  some  dozens  of  these  before  one's  self  and,  drawing  simply 
from  them,  work  out  a  history  that  would  read  well  and  perhaps 
have  a  wide  sale.  And  such  a  book  might  conceivably  be  worth  while. 
But  if  you  were  reading  it,  and  were  a  bit  disposed  to  query  into  the 
accuracy  of  the  statements  made,  you  would  probably  find  yourself 
wondering  before  long  just  where  the  writer  got  his  authority  for  this 
or  that  assertion;  and  if,  in  foot-note  or  appendix,  he  should  seem  to 
satisfy  your  curiosity  by  citing  some  other  biography  or  history,  you 
would  be  quite  justified  in  feeling  that,  after  all,  your  inquiry  remained 
unanswered, — for  whence  did  this  second  writer  get  his  authority?  If 
you  were  thus  persistent  you  would  probably  get  hold  of  the  volume 
The  question  referred  to  and  verify,  as  we  say,  the  statements  of  fact 
in  aJaook1  or  °Pmi°n  attributed  to  it.    When  you  came  upon  them 

of  history  you  might  find  it  there  stated  that  the  point  in  ques- 

tion is  clearly  established  from  certain  of  Lincoln's  own  letters  or 
speeches,  which  are  thereupon  cited,  and  perhaps  quoted  in  part. 
At  last  you  would  be  satisfied  that  the  thing  must  very  probably  be 
true,  for  there  you  would  have  the  words  of  Lincoln  himself  upon  it; 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  you  might  discover  that  your  first  writer  had 
merely  adopted  an  opinion  of  somebody  else  which  did  not  have  behind 
it  the  warrant  of  any  first-hand  authority.  In  either  case  you  might 
well  wonder  why,  instead  of  using  and  referring  only  to  books  of  other 

5 


6  INTRODUCTION 

later  authors  like  himself,  he  did  not  go  directly  to  Lincoln's  own  works, 
get  his  facts  from  them,  and  give  authority  for  his  statements  at  first 
hand.  And  if  you  pushed  the  matter  farther  it  would  very  soon  occur 
to  you  that  there  are  some  books  on  Lincoln  and  his  period  which  are 
not  carefully  written,  and  therefore  not  trustworthy,  and  that  your 
author  may  very  well  have  used  some  of  these,  falling  blindly  into  their 
errors  and  at  times  wholly  escaping  the  correct  interpretation  of  things 
which  could  be  had,  in  incontrovertible  form,  from  Lincoln's  own  pen, 
or  from  the  testimony  of  his  contemporaries.  In  other  words,  you 
would  begin  to  distrust  him  because  he  had  failed  to  go  to  the 
"sources"  for  his  materials,  or  at  least  for  a  verification  of  them. 

How,  then,  shall  one  proceed  in  the  writing  of  history  in  order  to 
make  sure  of  the  indispensable  quality  of  accuracy?  Clearly,  the  first 
thing  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  the  necessity  of  getting  information  through 
channels  which  are  as  direct  and  immediate  as  possible.  Just  as  in 
ascertaining  the  facts  regarding  an  event  of  to-day  it  would  be  de- 
sirable to  get  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness  rather  than  an  account 
after  it  had  passed  from  one  person  to  another,  suffering  more  or  less 
distortion  at  every  step,  so,  in  seeking  a  trustworthy  description*  of  the 
The  superior-  battle  of  Salamis  or  of  the  personal  habits  of  Charle- 
^^urcesof  magne,  the  proper  course  would  be  to  lay  hold  first  of 

knowledge  all  of  whatever  evidence  concerning  these  things  has 

come  down  from  Xerxes 's  or  Charlemagne's  day  to  our  own,  and  to  put 
larger  trust  in  this  than  in  more  recent  accounts  which  have  been  played 
upon  by  the  imagination  of  their  authors  and  perhaps  rendered  wholly 
misleading  by  errors  consciously  or  unconsciously  injected  into  them. 
The  writer  of  history  must  completely  divest  himself  of  the  notion  that 
a  thing  is  true  simply  because  he  finds  it  in  print.  He  may,  and 
should,  read  and  consider  well  what  others  like  himself  have  written 
upon  his  subject,  but  he  should  be  wary  of  accepting  what  he  finds  in 
such  books  without  himself  going  to  the  materials  to  which  these 
writers  have  resorted  and  ascertaining  whether  they  have  been  used 
with  patience  and  discrimination.  If  his  subject  is  Lincoln,  he  should, 
for  example,  make  sure  above  everything  else,  of  reading  exhaustively 
the  letters,  speeches,  and  state  papers  which  have  been  preserved, 
in  print  or  in  manuscript,  from  Lincoln's  pen.  Similarly,  he  should 
examine  with  care  all  letters  and  communications  of  every  kind  trans- 


INTRODUCTION  7 

mitted  to  Lincoln.  Then  he  should  familiarize  himself  with  the  writ- 
ings of  the  leading  men  of  Lincoln's  day,  whether  in  the  form  of  letters, 
diaries,  newspaper  and  magazine  articles,  or  books.  The  files,  indeed, 
of  all  the  principal  periodicals  of  the  time  should  be  gone  through  in 
quest  of  information  or  suggestions  not  to  be  found  in  other  places. 
And,  of  course,  the  vast  mass  of  public  and  official  records  would  be 
invaluable — the  journals  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress,  the  dispatches, 
orders,  and  accounts  of  the  great  executive  departments,  the  arguments 
before  the  courts,  with  the  resulting  decisions,  and  the  all  but  number- 
less other  papers  which  throw  light  upon  the  practical  conditions  and 
achievements  of  the  governing  powers,  national,  state,  and  local.  How- 
ever much  one  may  be  able  to  acquire  from  the  reading  of  later  biog- 
raphies and  histories,  he  ought  not  to  set  about  the  writing  of  a  new 
book  of  the  sort  unless  he  is  willing  to  toil  patiently  through  all  these 
first-hand,  contemporary  materials  and  get  some  warrant  from  them, 
as  being  nearest  the  events  themselves,  for  everything  of  importance 
that  he  proposes  to  say.  This  rule  is  equally  applicable  and  urgent 
whatever  the  subject  in  hand — whether  the  age  of  Pericles,  the  Roman 
Empire*  the  Norman  conquest  of  England,  the  French  Revolution,  or 
the  administrations  of  George  Washington — though,  obviously,  the 
character  and  amount  of  the  contemporary  materials  of  which  one  can 
avail  himself  varies  enormously  from  people  to  people  and  from  period 
to  period. 

History  is  unlike  many  other  subjects  of  study  in  that  our  knowl- 
edge of  it,  at  best,  must  come  to  us  almost  wholly  through  indirect 
means.  That  is  to  say,  all  our  information  regarding  the  past,  and  most 
of  it  regarding  our  own  day,  has  to  be  obtained,  in  one  form  or  another, 
through  other  people,  or  the  remains  that  they  have  left  behind  them. 
No  one  of  us  can  know  much  about  even  so  recent  an  event  as  the 

Indirect  Spanish-American  War,  except  by  reading  newspapers, 

character  of 

all  historical        magazines  and  books,  talking  with  men  who  had  part 

knowledge  in  it,  or  listening  to  public  addresses  concerning  it — 

all  indirect  means.  And,  of  course,  when  we  go  back  of  the  memory  of 
men  now  living,  say  to  the  American  Revolution,  nobody  can  lay  claim 
to  an  iota  of  knowledge  which  he  has  not  acquired  through  indirect 
channels.  In  physics  or  chemistry,  if  a  student  desires,  he  can  repro- 
duce in  the  laboratory  practically  any  phenomenon  which  he  finds 


8  INTRODUCTION 

described  in  his  books;  he  need  not  accept  the  mere  word  of  his  text 
or  of  his  teacher,  but  can  actually  behold  the  thing  with  his  own  eyes. 
Such  experimentation,  however,  has  no  place  in  the  study  of  history, 
for  by  no  sort  of  art  can  a  Roman  legion  or  a  German  comitatus  or  the 
battle  of  Hastings  be  reproduced  before  mortal  eye. 

For  our  knowledge  of  history  we  are  therefore  obliged  to  rely  abso- 
lutely upon  human  testimony,  in  one  form  or  another,  the  value  of 
such  testimony  depending  principally  upon  the  directness  with  which 
it  comes  to  us  from  the  men  and  the  times  under  consideration.  If  it 
reaches  us  with  reasonable  directness,  and  represents  a  well  authenticated 
means  of  studying  the  period  in  question  from  the  writings  or  other 
An  "  histor-  traces  left  by  that  period,  it  is  properly  to  be  included 
ical  source  "  in  the  great  body  of  materials  which  we  have  come  to 
e     e  call  historical  sources.     An  historical  source  may  be 

denned  as  any  product  of  human  activity  or  existence  that  can  be 
used  as  direct  evidence  in  the  study  of  man's  past  life  and  institutions. 
A  moment's  thought  will  suggest  that  there  are  "sources"  of  numerous 
and  widely  differing  kinds.  Roughly  speaking,  at  least,  they  fall  into 
two  great  groups:  (1)  those  in  writing  and  (2)  those  in  some  form  other 
than  writing.  The  first  group  is  by  far  the  larger  and  more  important. 
Foremost  in  it  stand  annals,  chronicles,  and  histories,  written  from  time 
to  time  all  along  the  line  of  human  history,  on  the  cuneiform 
tablets  of  the  Assyrians  or  the  parchment  rolls  of  the  mediaeval  monks, 
in  the  polished  Latin  of  a  Livy  or  the  sprightly  French  of  a  Froissart. 
Works  of  pure  literature  also — epics,  lyrics,  dramas,  essays — because 
of  the  light  that  they  often  throw  upon  the  times  in  which  they  were 
written,  possess  a  large  value  of  the  same  general  character.  Of  nearly 
equal  importance  is  the  great  class  of  materials  which  may  be  called 
documentary — laws,  charters,  formuke,  accounts,  treaties,  and  official 
Written  orders  or  instructions.     These  last  are  obviously  of 

sources  largest  value  in   the  study  of  social   customs,   land 

tenures,  systems  of  government,  the  workings  of  courts,  ecclesiastical 
organizations,  and  political  agencies — in  other  words,  of  institutions — 
just  as  chronicles  and  histories  are  of  greatest  service  in  unraveling  the 
narrative  side  of  human  affairs. 

Of  sources  which  are  not  in  the  form  of  writing,  the  most  important 
are:  (1)  implements  of  warfare,  agriculture,  household  economy,  and 


INTRODUCTION  9 

the  chase,  large  quantities  of  which  have  been  brought  to  light  in 
various  parts  of  the  world,  and  which  bear  witness  to  the  manner  of 
life  prevailing  among  the  peoples  who  produced  and  used  them;  (2)  coins, 
hoarded  up  in  treasuries  or  buried  in  tombs  or  ruins  of  one  sort  or  an- 
other, frequently  preserving  likenesses  of  important  sovereigns,  with 
Sources  dates  and  other  materials  of  use  especially  in  fixing 

other  than  chronology;  (3)  works  of  art,  surviving  intact  or  with 

in  wn  ing  losses  or  changes  inflicted  by  the  ravages  of  weather 

and  human  abuse — the  tombs  of  the  Egyptians,  the  sculpture  of  the 
Greeks,  the  architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or  the  paintings  of  the 
Renaissance;  (4)  other  constructions  of  a  more  practical  character, 
particularly  dwelling-houses,  roads,  bridges,  aqueducts,  walls,  gates, 
fortresses,  and  ships, — some  well  preserved  and  surviving  as  they  were 
first  fashioned,  others  in  ruins,  and  still  others  built  over  and  more  or 
less  obscured  by  modern  improvement  or  adaptation. 

These  are  some  of  the  things  to  which  the  writer  of  history  must  go 
for  his  facts  and  for  his  inspiration,  and  it  is  to  these  that  the 
student,  whose  business  is  to  learn  and  not  to  write,  ought  occasionally 
to  resort  to  enliven  and  supplement  what  he  finds  in  the  books.  As 
there  are  many  kinds  of  sources,  so  there  are  many  ways  in  which  such 
materials  may  be  utilized.  If,  for  example,  you  are  studying  the  life  of 
the  Greeks  and  in  that  connection  pay  a  visit  to  a  museum  of  fine  arts 
and  scrutinize  Greek  statuary,  Greek  vases,  and  Greek  coins,  you 
are  very  clearly  using  sources.  If  your  subject  is  the  church  life  of 
the  later  Middle  Ages  and  you  journey  to  Rheims  or  Amiens  or  Paris 
to  contemplate  the  splendid  cathedrals  in  these  cities,  with  their  spires 
Various  an<^   arcnes   and   ornamentation,   you   are,    in   every 

ways  of  us-         proper  sense,  using  sources.     You  are  doing  the  same 

S  e  thing  if  you  make  an  observation  trip  to  the  Egyptian 

pyramids,  or  to  the  excavated  Roman  forum,  or  if  you  traverse  the 
line  of  old  Watling  Street — nay,  if  you  but  visit  Faneuil  Hall,  or  tramp 
over  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg.  Many  of  these  more  purely  "mate- 
rial" sources  can  be  made  use  of  only  after  long  and  sometimes 
arduous  journeys,  or  through  the  valuable,  but  somewhat  less 
satisfactory,  medium  of  pictures  and  descriptions.  Happily,  how- 
ever, the  art  of  printing  and  the  practice  of  accumulating  enormous 
libraries  have    made    possible    the    indefinite   duplication    of    written 


10  INTRODUCTION 

sources,  and  consequently  the  use  of  them  at  almost  any  time  and  in 
almost  any  place.  There  is  but  one  Sphinx,  one  Parthenon,  one  Sistine 
Chapel;  there  are  not  many  Roman  roads,  feudal  castles,  or  Gothic 
cathedrals;  but  scarcely  a  library  in  any  civilized  country  is  without 
a  considerable  number  of  the  monumental  documents  of  human  history 
— the  funeral  oration  of  Pericles,  the  laws  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  Magna 
Charta,  the  theses  of  Luther,  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States — not  to  mention  the  all  but  limitless  masses  of  histories, 
biographies,  poems,  letters,  essays,  memoirs,  legal  codes,  and  official 
records  of  every  variety  which  are  available  for  any  one  who  seriously 
desires  to  make  use  of  them. 

-  But  why  should  the  younger  student  trouble  himself,  or  be  troubled, 
with  any  of  these  things?  Might  he  not  get  all  the  history  he  can  be 
expected  to  know  from  books  written  by  scholars  who  have  given  their 
lives  to  exploring,  organizing,  and  sifting  just  such  sources?  There  can 
be  no  question  that  schools  and  colleges  to-day  have  the  use  of  better 
text-books  in  history  than  have  ever  before  been  available,  and  that 
truer  notions  of  the  subject  in  its  various  relations  can  be  had  from  even 
the  most  narrow  devotion  to  these  texts  than  could  be  had  from  the 
study  of  their  predecessors  a  generation  ago.  If  the  object  of  studying 
history  were  solely  to  acquire  facts,  it  would,  generally  speaking,  be  a 
waste  of  time  for  high  school  or  younger  college  students  to  wander  far 
from  text-books.  But,  assuming  that  history  is  studied  not  alone  for 
the  mastery  of  facts  but  also  for  the  broadening  of  culture,  and  for  cer- 
tain kinds  of  mental  training,  the  properly  regulated  use  of  sources  by  the 
student  himself  is  to  be  justified  on  at  least  three  grounds:  (1)  Sources 
The  value  kelp  to  an  understanding  of  the  point  of  view  of  the  men, 

of  sources  and  the  spirit  of   the   age  under  consideration.     The 

to  the  student  abiiity  to  dissociate  one's  self  from  his  own  surroundings 
and  habits  of  thinking  and  to  put  himself  in  the  company  of  Caesar,  of 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  or  of  Innocent  III.,  as  the  occasion  may  require, 
is  the  hardest,  but  perhaps  the  most  valuable,  thing  that  the  student 
of  history  can  hope  to  get.  (2)  Sources  add  appreciably  to  the  vivid- 
ness and  reality  of  history.  However  well-written  the  modern  descrip- 
tion of  Charlemagne,  for  example,  the  student  ought  to  find  a  some- 
what different  flavor  in  the  account  by  the  great  Emperor's  own  friend 
and   secretary,  Einhard;  and,    similarly,  \tatthew   Paris's   picture   of 


INTRODUCTION  11 

the  raving  and  fuming  of  Frederick  II.  at  his  excommunication  by 
Pope  Gregory  ought  to  bring  the  reader  into  a  somewhat  more  intimate 
appreciation  of  the  character  of  the  proud  German-Sicilian  emperor. 
(3)  The  use  of  sources,  in  connection  with  the  reading  of  secondary 
works,  may  be  expected  to  train  the  student,  to  some  extent  at  least, 
in  methods  of  testing  the  accuracy  of  modern  writers,  especially  when 
the  subject  in  hand  is  one  that  lends  itself  to  a  variety  of  interpreta- 
tions. In  the  sources  the  makers  of  history,  or  those  who  stood  close 
to  them,  are  allowed  to  speak  for  themselves,  or  for  their  times,  and  the 
study  of  such  materials  not  only  helps  plant  in  the  student's  mind  the 
conception  of  fairness  and  impartiality  in  judging  historical  characters, 
but  also  cultivates  the  habit  of  tracing  things  back  to  their  origins  and 
verifying  what  others  have  asserted  about  them.  So  far  as  practicable 
the  student  of  history,  from  the  age  of  fourteen  and  onwards,  should  be 
encouraged  to  develop  the  critical  or  judicial  temperament  along  with 
the  purely  acquisitive. 

In  preparing  a  source  book,  such  as  the  present  one,  the  purpose  is  to 
further  the  study  of  the  most  profitable  sources  by  removing  some  of 
the  greater  difficulties,  particularly  those  of  accessibility  and  language. 
Clearly  impracticable  as  anything  like  historical  "research"  undoubt- 
edly is  for  younger  students,  it  is  none  the  less  believed  that  there  are 
abundant  first-hand  materials  in  the  range  of  history  which  such  stu- 
dents will  not  only  find  profitable  but  actually  enjoy,  and  that  any 
Simplicity  acquaintance  with  these  things  that  may  be  acquired 

mediaeval  m  ear^er  studies  will  be  of  inestimable  advantage  sub- 

sources  sequently.     It  is  furthermore  believed,  contrary  to  the 

assertions  that  one  sometimes  hears,  that  the  history  of  the  Middle 
Ages  lends  itself  to  this  sort  of  treatment  with  scarcely,  if  any,  less 
facility  than  that  of  other  periods.  Certainly  Gregory's  Clovis,  Asser's 
Alfred,  Einhard's  Charlemagne,  and  Joinville's  St.  Louis  are  living  per- 
sonalities, no  less  vividly  portrayed  than  the  heroes  of  a  boy's  story- 
book. Tacitus's  description  of  the  early  Germans,  Ammianus's  account 
of  the  crossing  of  the  Danube  by  the  Visigoths  and  his  pictures  of  the 
Huns,  Bede's  narrative  of  the  Saxon  invasion  of  Britain,  the  affec- 
tionate letter  Stephen  of  Blois  to  his  wife  and  children,  the  portrayal 
of  the  sweet-spirited  St.  Francis  by  the  Three  Companions,  and  Frois- 
sart's  free  and  easy  sketch  of  the  battle  of  Crecy  are  all  interesting,  easily 


12  INTRODUCTION 

comprehended,  and  even  adapted  to  whet  the  appetite  for  a  larger  ac- 
quaintance with  these  various  people  and  events.  Even  solid  docu- 
ments, like  the  Salic  law,  the  Benedictine  Rule,  the  Peace  of  Con- 
stance, and  the  Golden  Bull,  if  not  in  themselves  exactly  attractive, 
may  be  made  to  have  a  certain  interest  for  the  younger  student  when 
he  realizes  that  to  know  mediaeval  history  at  all  he  is  under  the  impera- 
tive necessity  of  getting  much  of  the  framework  of  things  either  from 
such  materials  or  from  text-books  which  essentially  reproduce  them. 
It  is  hoped  that  at  least  a  reasonable  proportion  of  the  selections 
herewith  presented  may  serve  in  some  measure  to  overcome  for  the 
student  the  remote  and  intangible  character  which  the  Middle  Ages 
have  much  too  commonly,  though  perhaps  not  unnaturally,  been  felt 
to  possess. 


CONTENTS 

SECTION  PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.— THE  EARLY  GERMANS 

1.  A  Sketch  by  Caesar 19 

2.  A  Description  by  Tacitus .23 

CHAPTER  II.— THE  VISIGOTHIC  INVASION 

3.  The  Visigoths  Cross  the  Danube  (376)         ....      32 

4.  The   Battle   of   Adrianople    (378)         .         .         ...         .37 

CHAPTER  III.— THE  HUNS 

5.  Description  by  a  Graeco-Roman  Poet  and  a  Roman  Historian      42 

CHAPTER  IV.— THE  EARLY  FRANKS 

6.  The  Deeds  of  Clovis  as  Related  by  Gregory  of  Tours     .         .      47 

7.  The  Law  of  the  Salian  Franks 59 

CHAPTER  V.— THE  ANGLES  AND  SAXONS   IN 
BRITAIN 

8.  The  Saxon  Invasion  (cir.  449) 68 

9.  The  Mission  of  Augustine  (597) 72 

CHAPTER  VI.— THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

10.  Pope  Leo's  Sermon   on   the   Petrine   Supremacy         .         .       78 

11.  The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict 83 

12.  Gregory  the  Great  on  the  Life  of  the  Pastor         ...       90 

CHAPTER  VII.— THE  RISE  OF  MOHAMMEDANISM 

13.  Selections  from  the  Koran     .         ...        .        .        .97 

13 


14  CONTENTS 

SECTION  PAGE 

CHAPTER     VIII.— THE    BEGINNINGS     OF      THE 
CAROLINGIAN  DYNASTY  OF  FRANKISH  KINGS 

14.  Pepin  the  Short  Takes  the  Title  of  King  (751)         .        .        ..105 

CHAPTER  IX.— THE  AGE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

15.  Charlemagne  the  Man 108 

16.  The  War  with  the  Saxons  (772-803) 114 

17.  The  Capitulary  Concerning  the  Saxon  Territory  (cir.  780)     118 

18.  The  Capitulary  Concerning  the  Royal  Domains  (cir.  800)     124 

19.  An  Inventory  of  one  of  Charlemagne's  Estates        .        .127 

20.  Charlemagne  Crowned   Emperor    (800)         .         .        .        .     130 

21.  The  General  Capitulary  for  the  Missi  (802)         .        .        .134 

22.  A  Letter  of  Charlemagne  to  Abbot  Fulrad         .         .         .141 

23.  The   Carolingian   Revival   of   Learning        ....     144 


CHAPTER  X.— THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER 
CAROLINGIANS 

24.  The  Oaths  of  Strassburg  (842) .149 

25.  The  Treaty   of  Verdun    (843) 154 

26.  A  Chronicle  of  the  Frankish  Kingdom  in  the  Ninth  Century  157 

27.  The  Northmen  in  the  Country  of  the  Franks         .         .         .  163 

28.  Later  Carolingian  Efforts  to  Preserve  Order         .         .         .173 

29.  The  Election  of  Hugh  Capet  (987) 177 

CHAPTER  XL— ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND 
IN  PEACE 

30.  The   Danes  in   England 181 

31.  Alfred's  Interest  in  Education 185 

32.  Alfred's  Laws 194 

CHAPTER  XII.— THE  ORDEAL 

33.  Tests  by  Hot  Water,  Cold  Water,  and  Fire        ...  196 

CHAPTER  XIII.— THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

34.  Older   Institutions  Involving  Elements  of  Feudalism        .  203 

35.  The  Granting  of  Fiefs 214 


CONTENTS  15 

SECTION  PAGE 

36.  The  Ceremonies  of  Homage  and  Fealty        .         .         .         .216 

37.  The  Mutual  Obligations  of  Lords  and  Vassals         .         .         .     220 

38.  Some  of  the  More  Important  Rights  of  the  Lord         .         .     221 

39.  The  Peace  and  the  Truce  of  God 228 

CHAPTER  XIV—  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST 

40.  The  Battle  of  Hastings:  the  English  and  the  Normans         .     233 

41.  William  the  Conqueror  as  Man  and  as  King        .         .         .     241 

CHAPTER  XV.— THE  MONASTIC  REFORMATION 
OF  THE  TENTH,  ELEVENTH,  AND  TWELFTH 
CENTURIES 

42.  The  Foundation  Charter  of  the  Monastery  of  Cluny  (910)     245 

43.  The  Early  Career  of  St.  Bernard  and  the  Founding  of  Clair- 

vaux  .         .         . 250 

44.  A  Description  of  Clairvaux    .         .        .        .        .  .     258 

CHAPTER   XVI.— THE    CONFLICT    OVER   INVESTI- 
TURE 

45.  Gregory  VII. 's  Conception  of  the  Papal  Authority     .         .     261 

46.  Letter  of  Gregory  VII.  to  Henry  IV.  (1075)       .         .         .264 

47.  Henry  IV.'s  Reply  to  Gregory's  Letter  (1076)    .         .         .269 

48.  Henry  IV.  Deposed  by  Gregory  (1076)         .         .        .         .272 

49.  The  Penance  of  Henry  IV.  at  Canossa  (1077)         .        .         .273 

50.  The  Concordat  of  Worms  (1122) 278 


CHAPTER  XVII.— THE  CRUSADES 

51.  Speech  of  Pope  Urban  II.  at  the  Council  of  Clermont  (1095)     282 

52.  The  Starting  of  the  Crusaders  (1096)      .         .       . .        .         .288 

53.  A  Letter  from  a  Crusader  to  his  Wife        ....    291 


CHAPTER  XVIIL— THE  GREAT  CHARTER 

54.  The  Winning  of  the  Great  Charter 297 

55.  Extracts  from  the  Charter 303 


16  CONTENTS 

SECTION  £AGE 

CHAPTER  XIX.— THE    REIGN   OF   SAINT   LOUIS 

56.  The   Character  and   Deeds  of  the   King  as   Described  by 

Joinville 311 

CHAPTER    XX.— MUNICIPAL    ORGANIZATION   AND 
ACTIVITY 

57.  Some  Twelfth  Century  Town  Charters        ....    325 

58.  The  Colonization  of  Eastern  Germany        ....    330 

59.  The  League  of  Rhenish  Cities   (1254)         .        .        .        .334 

CHAPTER    XXL— UNIVERSITIES    AND    STUDENT 
LIFE 

60.  Privileges  Granted  to  Students  and  Masters        .        .        .    340 

61.  The  Foundation  of  the  University  of  Heidelberg  (1386)         .    345 

62.  Mediaeval  Students'  Songs 351 

CHAPTER  XXIL— THE  FRIARS 

63.  The  Life  of  St.  Francis 362 

64.  The  Rule  of  St.  Francis 373 

65.  The  Will  of  St.  Francis 376 

CHAPTER   XXIIL— THE    PAPACY    AND    THE    TEM- 
PORAL POWERS  IN  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES 

66.  The  Interdict  Laid  on  France  by  Innocent  III.  (1200)         .     380 

67.  The  Bull  "Unam  Sanctam"  of  Boniface  VIII.  (1302)         .    383 

68.  The  Great  Schism  and  the  Councils  of  Pisa  and  Constance    389 

69.  The  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges  (1438)         .        ..       .393 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  TWELFTH, 
THIRTEENTH,  AND  FOURTEENTH  CENTURIES 

70.  The    Peace   of   Constance    (1183) 398 

71.  Current    Rumors   Concerning   the   Life   and   Character   of 

Frederick  II. 402 

72.  The  Golden  Bull  of  Charles  IV.  (1356)        ....    409 


CONTENTS  17 

SECTION  PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXV.— THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

73.  An  Occasion  of  War  between  the  Kings  of  England  and  France    418 

74.  Edward  III.  Assumes  the  Arms  and  Title  of  the  King  of 

France 421 

75.  The  Naval  Battle  of  Sluys  (1340)         .        .        .        .         .424 

76.  The  Battle  of  Crecy   (1346) 427 

77.  The  Sack  of  Limoges  (1370) 436 

78.  The  Treaties  of  Bretigny  (1360)  and  Troyes  (1420)         .         .     439 

CHAPTER   XXVI.— THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   THE 
ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

79.  Dante's  Defense  of  Italian  as  a  Literary  Language  .  445 

80.  Dante's  Conception  of  the  Imperial  Power        .  .  452 

81.  Petrarch's    Love    of   the    Classics        .        .        .  .  .    462 

82.  Petrarch's  Letter  to  Posterity       .        .                 .  .  .    469 

CHAPTER   XXVII.— FORESHADOWINGS    OF    THE 
REFORMATION 

83.  The  Reply  of  Wyclif  to  the  Summons  of  Pope  Urban  VI. 

(1384)- 474 


Med.  Hist.— 2 


A     SOURCE    BOOK    OF    MEDIAEVAL 
HISTORY 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  EARLY  GERMANS 

1.  A  Sketch  by  Caesar 

One  of  the  most  important  steps  in  the  expansion  of  the  Roman 
Republic  was  the  conquest  of  Gaul  by  Julius  Caesar  just  before  the  middle 
of  the  first  century  B.C.  Through  this  conquest  Rome  entered  de- 
liberately upon  the  policy  of  extending  her  dominion  northward  from 
the  Mediterranean  and  the  Alps  into  the  regions  of  western  and  central 
Europe  known  to  us  to-day  as  France  and  Germany.  By  their  wars 
in  this  direction  the  Romans  were  brought  into  contact  with  peoples 
concerning  whose  manner  of  life  they  had  hitherto  known  very  little. 
There  were  two  great  groups  of  these  peoples — the  Gauls  and  the 
Germans — each  divided  and  subdivided  into  numerous  tribes  and  clans. 
In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  Gauls  occupied  what  we  now  call 
France  and  the  Germans  what  we  know  as  Belgium,  Holland,  Denmark, 
Germany,  and  Austria.  The  Rhine  marked  a  pretty  clear  boundary 
between  them. 

During  the  years  58-50  B.C.,  Julius  Caesar,  who  had  risen  to  the 
proconsulship  through  a  long  series  of  offices  and  honors  at  Rome, 
served  the  state  as  leader  of  five  distinct  military  expeditions  in  this 
country  of  the  northern  barbarians.  The  primary  object  of  these 
campaigns  was  to  establish  order  among  the  turbulent  tribes  of  Gauls 
and  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  extension  of  Roman  rule  over  them. 
This  great  task  was  performed  very  successfully,  but  in  accomplishing 
it  Caesar  found  it  necessary  to  go  somewhat  farther  than  had  at  first 
been  intended.  In  the  years  55  and  54  B.C.,  he  made  two  expeditions 
to  Britain  to  punish  the  natives  for  giving  aid  to  their  Celtic  kinsfolk 

19 


20  ;'',']'•    '  ')l  ,,i      THE  EARLY   GERMANS 

in  Gaul,  and  in  55  and  53  he  crossed  the  Rhine  to  compel  the  Germans 
to  remain  on  their  own  side  of  the  river  and  to  cease  troubling  the  Gauls 
by  raids  and  invasions,  as  they  had  recently  been  doing.  When  (about 
51  B.C.)  he  came  to  write  his  Commentaries  on  the  Gallic  War,  it  is 
very  natural  that  he  should  have  taken  care  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  leading  peoples  whom  he  had  been  fighting,  that  is,  the  Gauls,  the 
Britons,  and  the  Germans.  There  are  two  places  in  the  Commentaries 
where  the  Germans  are  described  at  some  length.  At  the  beginning 
of  Book  IV.  there  is  an  account  of  the  particular  tribe  known  as  the 
Suevi,  and  in  the  middle  of  Book  VI.  there  is  a  longer  sketch  of  the 
Germans  in  general.  This  latter  is  the  passage  translated  below.  Of 
course  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  Caesar's  knowledge  of  the  Germans 
was  in  any  sense  thorough.  At  no  time  did  he  get  far  into  their 
country,  and  the  people  whose  manners  and  customs  he  had  an 
opportunity  to  observe  were  only  those  who  were  pressing  down  upon, 
and  occasionally  across,  the  Rhine  boundary — a  mere  fringe  of  the 
great  race  stretching  back  to  the  Baltic  and,  at  that  time,  far  eastward 
into  modern  Russia.  We  may  be  sure  that  many  of  the  more  remote 
German  tribes  lived  after  a  fashion  quite  different  from  that  which 
Caesar  and  his  legions  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  on  the  Rhine- 
Danube  frontier.  Still,  Caesar's  account,  vague  and  brief  as  it  is,  has 
an  importance  that  can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  These  early  Germans 
had  no  written  literature  and  but  for  the  descriptions  of  them  left  by 
a  few  Roman  writers,  such  as  Caesar,  we  should  know  almost  nothing 
about  them.  If  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  account  in  the  Commentaries 
was  based  upon  very  keen,  though  limited,  observation,  we  can  get  out 
of  it  a  good  deal  of  interesting  information  concerning  the  early  an- 
cestors of  the  great  Teutonic  peoples  of  the  world  to-day. 

Source —Julius   Caesar,  De    Bello   Gallico  ["The  Gallic  War"],    Bk.  VI., 
Chaps.  21-23. 

21.  The  customs  of  the  Germans  differ  widely  from  those  of 
the  Gauls; *  for  neither  have  they  Druids  to  preside  over  religious 

i  In  chapters  11-20,  immediately  preceding  the  present  passage,  Caesar 
gives  a  comparatively  full  and  minute  description  of  Gallic  life  and  institu- 
tions. He  knew  more  about  the  Gauls  than  about  the  Germans,  and, 
besides,  it  was  his  experiences  among  them  that  he  was  writing  about 
primarily. 


A   SKETCH   BY   (LESAR  21 

services,1  nor  do  they  give  much  attention  to  sacrifices.  They 
count  in  the  number  of  their  gods  those  only  whom  they  can 
Their  see,  and  by  whose  favors  they  are  clearly  aided; 

religion  ^at  is  to  say,  the  Sun,  Vulcan,2  and  the  Moon. 

Of  other  deities  they  have  never  even  heard.  Their  whole  life 
is  spent  in  hunting  and  in  war.  From  childhood  they  are  trained 
in  labor  and  hardship.     .     .     . 

22.  They  are  not  devoted  to  agriculture,  and  the  greater 
portion  of  their  food  consists  of  milk,  cheese,  and  flesh.  No  one 
Their  system  owns  a  particular  piece  of  land,  with  fixed  limits, 
of  land  tenure  ^nt  g^^  year  ^he  magistrates  and  the  chiefs 
assign  to  the  clans  and  the  bands  of  kinsmen  who  have  assembled 
together  as  much  land  as  they  think  proper,  and  in  whatever 
place  they  desire,  and  the  next  year  compel  them  to  move  to 
some  other  place.  They  give  many  reasons  for  this  custom — 
that  the  people  may  not  lose  their  zeal  for  war  through  habits 
established  by  prolonged  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil;  that  they  may  not  be  eager  to  acquire  large  possessions, 
and  that  the  stronger  may  not  drive  the  weaker  from  their 
property;  that  they  may  not  build  too  carefully,  in  order  to 
avoid  cold  and  heat;  that  the  love  of  money  may  not  spring  up, 
from  which  arise  quarrels  and  dissensions;  and,  finally,  that  the 
common  people  may  live  in  contentment,  since  each  person 
sees  that  his  wealth  is  kept  equal  to  that  of  the  most  powerful. 

23.  It  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  glory  to  the  tribes  to  lay 
waste,  as  widely  as  possible,  the  lands  bordering  their  territory, 
thus  making  them  uninhabitable.3    They  regard  it  as  the  best 

iThe  Druids  were  priests  who  formed  a  distinct  and  very  influential 
class  among  the  Gauls.  They  ascertained  and  revealed  the  will  of  the  gods 
and  were  supreme  in  the  government  of  the  tribes.  Druids  existed  also 
among  the  Britons. 

2  By  Vulcan  Csesar  means  the  German  god  of  fire. 

3  Of  the  Suevi,  a  German  tribe  living  along  the  upper  course  of  the  Danube, 
Caesar  says:  "They  consider  it  their  greatest  glory  as  a  nation  that  the  lands 
about  their  territories  lie  unoccupied  to  a  very  great  extent,  for  they  think 
that  by  this  it  is  shown  that  a  great  number  of  nations  cannot  withstand 
their  power;  and  thus  on  one  side  of  the  Suevi  the  lands  are  said  to  lie 
desolate  for  about  six  hundred  miles." — Gallic  War,  Bk.  IV.,  Chap.  3. 


22  THE   EARLY   GERMANS 

proof  of  their  valor  that  their  neighbors  are  forced  to  withdraw 

from  those  lands  and  hardly  any  one  dares  set  foot  there;  at  the 

same  time  they  think  that  they  will  thus  be  more  secure,  since 

the  fear  of  a  sudden  invasion  is  removed.    When  a  tribe  is  either 

repelling  an  invasion  or  attacking  an  outside  people,  magistrates 

are  chosen  to  lead  in  the  war,  and  these  are  given 
Leaders  and  . 

officers  in  war    the  power  of  life  and  death.     In  times  of  peace 
peace  there  is  no  general  magistrate,  but  the  chiefs  of 

the  districts  and  cantons  render  justice  among  their  own  people 
and  settle  disputes.1  Robbery,  if  committed  beyond  the  borders 
of  the  tribe,  is  not  regarded  as  disgraceful,  and  they  say  that  it  is 
practised  for  the  sake  of  training  the  youth  and  preventing 
idleness.  When  any  one  of  the  chiefs  has  declared  in  an  assembly 
that  he  is  going  to  be  the  leader  of  an  expedition,  and  that 
those  who  wish  to  follow  him  should  give  in  their  names,  they 
who  approve  of  the  undertaking,  and  of  the  man,  stand  up  and 
promise  their  assistance,  and  are  applauded  by  the  people. 
Such  of  these  as  do  not  then  follow  him  are  looked  upon  as 
deserters  and  traitors,  and  from  that  day  no  one  has  any  faith 
in  them. 

To  mistreat  a  guest  they  consider  to  be  a  crime.  They  protect 
German  from  injury  those  who  have  come  among  them  for 

hospitality  anv  purpose  whatever,  and  regard  them  as  sacred. 

To  them  the  houses  of  all  are  open  and  food  is  freely  supplied. 

i  This  statement  is  an  instance  of  Caesar's  vagueness,  due  possibly  to  haste 
in  writing,  but  more  likely  to  lack  of  definite  information.  How  large  these 
districts  and  cantons  were,  whether  they  had  fixed  boundaries,  and  how 
the  chiefs  rendered  justice  in  them  are  things  we  should  like  to  know  but 
are  not  told. 


A   DESCRIPTION   BY  TACITUS  23 

2.  A  Description  by  Tacitus 

Tacitus  (54-1 1 9)  /  who  is  sometimes  credited  with  being  the 
greatest  of  Roman  historians,  published  his  treatise  on  the  Origin, 
Location,  Manners,  and  Inhabitants  of  Germany  in  the  year  98.  This 
was  about  a  century  and  a  half  after  Caesar  wrote  his  Commentaries. 
During  this  long  interval  we  have  almost  no  information  as  to  how  the 
Germans  were  living  or  what  they  were  doing.  There  is  much  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  means  by  which  Tacitus  got  his  knowledge  of  them.  We 
may  be  reasonably  sure  that  he  did  not  travel  extensively  through  the 
country  north  of  the  Rhine;  there  is,  in  fact,  not  a  shred  of  evidence 
that  he  ever  visited  it  at  all.  He  tells  us  that  he  made  use  of  Caesar's 
account,  but  this  was  very  meager  and  could  not  have  been  of  much 
service.  We  are  left  to  surmise  that  he  drew  most  of  his  information 
from  books  then  existing  but  since  lost,  such  as  the  writings  of 
Posidonius  of  Rhodes  (136-51  b.c.)  and  Pliny  the  Elder  (23-79). 
These  sources  were  doubtless  supplemented  by  the  stories  of  officials 
and  traders  who  had  been  among  the  Germans  and  were  afterwards 
interviewed  by  the  historian.  Tacitus's  essay,  therefore,  while  written 
with  a  desire  to  tell  the  truth,  was  apparently  not  based  on  first-hand 
information.  The  author  nowhere  says  that  he  had  seen  this  or  that 
feature  of  German  life.  We  may  suppose  that  what  he  really  did  was 
to  gather  up  all  the  stories  and  reports  regarding  the  German  barbarians 
which  were  already  known  to  Roman  traders,  travelers,  and  soldiers, 
sift  the  true  from  the  false  as  well  as  he  could,  and  write  out  in  first  class 
Latin  the  little  book  which  we  know  as  the  Germania.  The  theory  that 
the  work  was  intended  as  a  satire,  or  sermon  in  morals,  for  the  benefit 
of  a  corrupt  Roman  people  has  been  quite  generally  abandoned,  and 
this  for  the  very  good  reason  that  there  is  nothing  in  either  the  treatise's 
contents  or  style  to  warrant  such  a  belief.  Tacitus  wrote  the  book 
because  of  his  general  interest  in  historical  and  geographical  subjects, 
and  also,  perhaps,  because  it  afforded  him  an  excellent  opportunity  to 
display  a  literary  skill  in  which  he  took  no  small  degree  of  pride.  That 
it  was  published  separately  instead  of  in  one  of  his  larger  histories  may 
have  been  due  to  public  interest  in  the  subject  during  Trajan's  wars  in 
the  Rhine    country  in  the  years  98  and   99.     The  first  twenty-seven 

1 AU  dates  from  this  point,  unless  otherwise  indicated,  are  a.d. 


24  THE   EARLY  GERMANS 

chapters,  from  which  the  selections  below  are  taken,  treat  of  the  Germans 
in  general — their  origin,  religion,  family  life,  occupations,  military  tac- 
tics, amusements,  land  system,  government,  and  social  classes;  the  last 
nineteen  deal  with  individual  tribes  and  are  not  so  accurate  or  so  valu- 
able. It  will  be  found  interesting  to  compare  what  Tacitus  says  with 
what  Csesar  says  when  both  touch  upon  the  same  topic.  In  doing  so  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  was  a  difference  in  time  of  a  century 
and  a  half  between  the  two  writers,  and  also  that  while  Tacitus  probably 
did  not  write  from  experience  among  the  Germans,  as  Csesar  did,  he 
nevertheless  had  given  the  subject  a  larger  amount  of  deliberate  study. 

Source — C.  Cornelius  Tacitus,  De  Origine,  Situ,  Moribus,  ac  Populis  Ger- 
manorum  [known  commonly  as  the  "Germania"],  Chaps.  4-24, 
passim.  Adapted  from  translation  by  Alfred  J.  Church  and  Wil- 
liam J.  Brodribb  (London,  1868),  pp.  1-16.  Text  in  numerous 
editions,  as  that  of  William  F.  Allen  (Boston,  1882)  and  that  of 
Henry  Furneau  (Oxford,  1894). 

4.  For  my  own  part,  I  agree  with  those  who  think  that  the 
tribes  of  Germany  are  free  from  all  trace  of  intermarriage  with 
Physical  char-  foreign  nations,  and  that  they  appear  as  a  dis- 
acteristics  tinct,  unmixed  race,  like  none  but  themselves. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  same  physical  features  are  to  be  observed 
throughout  so  vast  a  population.  All  have  fierce  blue  eyes,  red- 
dish hair,  and  huge  bodies  fit  only  for  sudden  exertion.  They  are 
not  very  able  to  endure  labor  that  is  exhausting.  Heat  and  thirst 
they  cannot  withstand  at  all,  though  to  cold  and  hunger  their 
climate  and  soil  have  hardened  them. 

6.  Iron  is  not  plentiful  among  them,  as  may  be  inferred  from 
the  nature  of  their  weapons.1  Only  a  few  make  use  of  swords  or 
long  lances.  Ordinarily  they  carry  a  spear  (which  they  call  a 
framea),  with  a  short  and  narrow  head,  but  so  sharp  and  easy  to 
handle  that  the  same  weapon  serves,  according  to  circumstances, 
for  close  or  distant  conflict.  As  for  the  horse-soldier,  he  is  satis- 
fied with  a  shield  and  a  spear.     The  foot-soldiers  also  scatter 

1  In  reality  iron  ore  was  abundant  in  the  Germans'  territory,  but  it  was 
not  until  long  after  the  time  of  Tacitus  that  much  use  began  to  be  made  of 
it.    By  the  fifth  century  iron  swords  were  common. 


A  DESCRIPTION   BY  TACITUS  25 

showers  of  missiles,  each  man  having  several  and  hurling  them 

to  an  immense  distance,  and  being  naked  or  lightly  clad  with  a 

little  cloak.    They  make  no  display  in  their  equipment.    Their 

shields  alone  are  marked  with  fancy  colors.     Only  a  few  have 

corselets,1  and  just  one  or  two  here  and  there  a  metal  or  leather 

_    .  helmet.2    Their  horses  are  neither  beautiful  nor 

Their  weapons 

and  mode  of      swift;    nor    are    they    taught    various    wheeling 

S    inff  movements  after  the  Roman  fashion,  but   are 

driven  straight  forward  so  as  to  make  one  turn  to  the  right  in 
such  a  compact  body  that  none  may  be  left  behind  another.  On 
the  whole,  one  would  say  that  the  Germans'  chief  strength  is  in 
their  infantry.  It  fights  along  with  the  cavalry,  and  admirably 
adapted  to  the  movements  of  the  latter  is  the  swiftness  of  certain 
foot-soldiers,  who  are  picked  from  the  entire  youth  of  their 
country  and  placed  in  front  of  the  battle  line.3  The  number  of 
these  is  fixed,  being  a  hundred  from  each  pagus,4  and  from  this 
they  take  their  name  among  their  countrymen,  so  that  what  was 
at  the  outset  a  mere  number  has  now  become  a  title  of  honor. 
Their  line  of  battle  is  drawn  up  in  the  shape  of  a  wedge.  To 
yield  ground,  provided  they  return  to  the  attack,  is  regarded  as 
prudence  rather  than  cowardice.  The  bodies  of  their  slain 
they  carry  off,  even  when  the  battle  has  been  indecisive.  To 
abandon  one's  shield  is  the  basest  of  crimes.  A  man  thus  dis- 
graced is  not  allowed  to  be  present  at  the  religious  ceremonies,  or 
to  enter  the  council.  Many,  indeed,  after  making  a  cowardly 
escape  from  battle  put  an  end  to  their  infamy  by  hanging  them- 
selves.5 

1  Coats  of  mail. 

2  Defensive  armor  for  the  head  and  neck. 

3  See  Caesar's  description  of  this  mode  of  fighting. — Gallic  War,  Bk.  I. , 
Chap.  48. 

4  The  canton  was  known  to  the  Romans  as  a  pagus  and  to  the  Ger- 
mans themselves  as  a  gau.  It  was  made  up  of  a  number  of  districts,  or 
townships  (Latin  vicus,  German  dorf),  and  was  itself  a  division  of  a  tribe  or 
nation. 

5  A  later  law  of  the  Salian  Franks  imposed  a  fine  of  120  denarii  upon  any 
man  who  should  accuse  another  of  throwing  down  his  shield  and  running 
away,  without  being  able  to  prove  it"  [see  p.  64]. 


26  THE   EARLY   GERMANS 

7.  They  choose  their  kings1  by  reason  of  their  birth,  but  their 
generals  on  the  ground  of  merit.  The  kings  do  not  enjoy  un- 
limited or  despotic  power,  and  even  the  generals  command  more 
by  example  than  by  authority.  If  they  are  energetic,  if  they  take 
a  prominent  part,  if  they  fight  in  the  front,  they  lead  because 
they  are  admired.  But  to  rebuke,  to  imprison,  even  to  flog,  is 
allowed  to  the  priests  alone,  and  this  not  as  a  punishment,  or  at 
the  general's  bidding,  but  by  the  command  of  the  god  whom 
they  believe  to  inspire  the  warrior.  They  also  carry  with  them 
The  Germans  into  battle  certain  figures  and  images  taken 
in  battle  from  their  sacred  groves.2    The  thing  that  most 

strengthens  their  courage  is  the  fact  that  their  troops  are  not 
made  up  of  bodies  of  men  chosen  by  mere  chance,  but  are  ar- 
ranged by  families  and  kindreds.  Close  by  them,  too,  are  those 
dearest  to  them,  so  that  in  the  midst  of  the  fight  they  can  hear 
the  shrieks  of  women  and  the  cries  of  children.  These  loved  ones 
are  to  every  man  the  most  valued  witnesses  of  his  valor,  and  at 
the  same  time  his  most  generous  applauders.  The  soldier  brings 
his  wounds  to  mother  or  wife,  who  shrinks  not  from  counting 
them,  or  even  demanding  to  see  them,  and  who  provides  food 
for  the  warriors  and  gives  them  encouragement. 

11.  About  matters  of  small  importance  the  chiefs  alone  take 
counsel,  but  the  larger  questions  are  considered  by  the  entire 
tribe.  Yet  even  when  the  final  decision  rests  with  the  people 
the  affair  is  always  thoroughly  discussed  by  the  chiefs.  Except 
in  the  case  of  a  sudden  emergency,  the  people  hold  their  assem- 
blies on  certain  fixed  days,  either  at  the  new  or  the  full  moon; 

i  Many  of  the  western  tribes  at  the  time  Tacitus  wrote  did  not  have  kings, 
though  in  eastern  Germany  the  institution  of  kingship  seems  to  have  been 
quite  general.  The  office,  where  it  existed,  was  elective,  but  the  people 
rarely  chose  a  king  outside  of  a  privileged  family,  assumed  to  be  of  divine 
origin. 

2  Evidently  these  were  not  images  of  their  gods,  for  in  another  place  (Chap. 
9)  Tacitus  tells  us  that  the  Germans  deemed  it  a  dishonor  to  their  deities  to 
represent  them  in  human  form.  The  images  were  probably  those  of  wild 
beasts,  as  the  wolf  of  Woden  (or  Odin),  or  the  ram  of  Tyr,  and  were  national 
standards  preserved  with  religious  care  in  the  sacred  groves,  whence  they 
were  brought  forth  when  the  tribe  was  on  the  point  of  going  to  war. 


A    DESCRIPTION    BY   TACITUS  27 

for  these  they  consider  the  most  suitable  times  for  the  transaction 
Their  popular  of  business.  Instead  of  counting  by  days,  as  we  do, 
assemblies  ^ey  count  by  nights,  and  in  this  way  designate 

both  their  ordinary  and  their  legal  engagements.  They  regard 
the  night  as  bringing  on  the  day.  Their  freedom  has  one  dis- 
advantage, in  that  they  do  not  all  come  together  at  the  same  time, 
or  as  they  are  commanded,  but  two  or  three  days  are  wasted  in 
the  delay  of  assembling.  When  the  people  present  think  proper, 
they  sit  down  armed.  Silence  is- proclaimed  by  the  priests  who, 
on  these  occasions,  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  keeping  order. 
The  king  or  the  leader  speaks  first,  and  then  others  in  order,  as 
age,  or  rank,  or  reputation  in  war,  or  eloquence,  give  them  right. 
The  speakers  are  heard  more  because  of  their  ability  to  persuade 
than  because  of  their  power  to  command.  If  the  speeches  are 
displeasing  to  the  people,  they  reject  them  with  murmurs;  if  they 
are  pleasing,  they  applaud  by  clashing  their  weapons  together, 
which  is  the  kind  of  applause  most  highly  esteemed.1 

13.  They  transact  no  public  or  private  business  without  being 
armed,  but  it  is  not  allowable  for  any  one  to  bear  arms  until  he 
has  satisfied  the  tribe  that  he  is  fit  to  do  so.  Then,  in  the  presence 
of  the  assembly,  one  of  the  chiefs,  or  the  young  man's  father,  or 
some  kinsman,  equips  him  with  a  shield  and  a  spear.  These  arms 
are  what  the  toga  is  with  the  Romans,  the  first  honor  with  which 
a  youth  is  invested.  Up  to  this  time  he  is  regarded  as  merely  a 
member  of  a  household,  but  afterwards  as  a  member  of  the  state. 
Very  noble  birth,  or  important  service  rendered  by  the  father, 
secures  for  a  youth  the  rank  of  chief,  and  such  lads  attach  them- 

1  The  German  popular  assembly  was  simply  the  periodical  gathering  of 
free  men  in  arms  for  the  discussion  and  decision  of  important  points  of  tribal 
policy.  It  was  not  a  legislative  body  in  the  modern  sense.  Law  among  the 
Germans  was  immemorial  custom,  which,  like  religion,  could  be  changed 
only  by  a  gradual  shifting  of  popular  belief  and  practice.  It  was  not  "  made  " 
by  any  process  of  deliberate  and  immediate  choice.  Nevertheless,  the  assem- 
bly constituted  an  important  democratic  element  in  the  government,  which 
operated  in  a  measure  to  offset  the  aristocratic  element  represented  by  the 
principes  and  comitatus  [see  p.  28].  Its  principal  functions  were  the  declar- 
ing of  war  and  peace,  the  election  of  the  kings,  and,  apparently,  the  hearing 
and  deciding  of  graver  cases  at  law. 


28  THE   EARLY  GERMANS 

selves  to  men  of  mature  strength  and  of  fully  tested  valor.  It  is  no 
shame  to  be  numbered  among  a  chief's  companions.1  The  com- 
The  chiefs  and  Pani°ns  nave  different  ranks  in  the  band,  accord- 
their  compan-  ing  to  the  will  of  the  chief;  and  there  is  great 
rivalry  among  the  companions  for  first  place  in 
the  chief's  favor,  as  there  is  among  the  chiefs  for  the  possession 
of  the  largest  and  bravest  throng  of  followers.  It  is  an  honor,  as 
well  as  a  source  of  strength,  to  be  thus  always  surrounded  by  a 
large  body  of  picked  youths,  who  uphold  the  rank  of  the  chief  in 
peace  and  defend  him  in  war.  The  fame  of  such  a  chief  and  his 
band  is  not  confined  to  their  own  tribe,  but  is  spread  among 
foreign  peoples;  they  are  sought  out  and  honored  with  gifts  in 
order  to  secure  their  alliance,  for  the  reputation  of  such  a  band 
may  decide  a  whole  war. 

14.  In  battle  it  is  considered  shameful  for  the  chief  to  allow 
any  of  his  followers  to  excel  him  in  valor,  and  for  the  followers 
not  to  equal  their  chief  in  deeds  of  bravery.  To  survive  the  chief 
and  return  from  the  field  is  a  disgrace  and  a  reproach  for  life. 
To  defend  and  protect  him,  and  to  add  to  his  renown  by  cour- 
ageous fighting  is  the  height  of  loyalty.  The  chief  fights  for 
victory;  the  companions  must  fight  for  the  chief.  If  their  native 
state  sinks  into  the  sloth  of  peace  and  quiet,  many  noble  youths 
The  German  voluntarily  seek  those  tribes  which  are  waging 
love  of  war  some  war,  both  because  inaction  is  disliked  by 
their  race  and  because  it  is  in  war  that  they  win  renown  most 
readily;  besides,  a  chief  can  maintain  a  band  only  by  war,  for 
the  men  expect  to  receive  their  war-horse  and  their  arms  from 
their  leader.  Feasts  and  entertainments,  though  not  elegant,  are 
plentifully  provided  and  constitute  their  only  pay.  The  means  of 
such  liberality  are  best  obtained  from  the  booty  of  war.  Nor 
are  they  as  easily  persuaded  to  plow  the  earth  and  to  wait  for  the 
year's  produce  as  to  challenge  an  enemy  and  earn  the  glory  of 

1  This  relation  of  principes  (chiefs)  and  comites  (companions)  is  mentioned 
by  Caesar  [see  p.  22].  The  name  by  which  the  Romans  designated  the  band 
of  companions,  or  followers,  of  a  German  chieftain  was  comitatus. 


A   DESCRIPTION    BY   TACITUS  29 

wounds.     Indeed,  they  actually  think  it  tame  and  stupid  to 
acquire  by  the  sweat  of  toil  what  they  may  win  by  their  blood.1 

15.  When  not  engaged  in  war  they  pass  much  of  their  time  in 
the  chase,  and  still  more  in  idleness,  giving  themselves  up  to 
sleep  and  feasting.  The  bravest  and  most  warlike  do  no  work; 
they  give  over  the  management  of  the  household,  of  the  home, 
and  of  the  land  to  the  women,  the  old  men,  and  the  weaker 
Life  in  times  members  of  the  family,  while  they  themselves 
of  peace  remain  in  the  most  sluggish  inactivity.  It  is 
strange  that  the  same  men  should  be  so  fond  of  idleness  and  yet 
so  averse  to  peace.2  It  is  the  custom  of  the  tribes  to  make  their 
chiefs  presents  of  cattle  and  grain,  and  thus  to  give  them  the 
means  of  support.3  The  chiefs  are  especially  pleased  with  gifts 
from  neighboring  tribes,  which  are  sent  not  only  by  individuals, 
but  also  by  the  state,  such  as  choice  steeds,  heavy  armor,  trap- 
pings, and  neck-chains.  The  Romans  have  now  taught  them  to 
accept  money  also. 

16.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  peoples  of  Germany  have 
no  cities,  and  that  they  do  not  even  allow  buildings  to  be  erected 
close  together.4    They  live  scattered  about,  wherever  a  spring,  or 

1  Apparently  the  Germans  did  not  now  care  much  more  for  agriculture 
than  in  the  time  of  Caesar.  The  women,  slaves,  and  old  men  sowed  some 
seeds  and  gathered  small  harvests,  but  the  warrior  class  held  itself  above 
such  humble  and  unexciting  employment.  The  raising  of  cattle  afforded 
a  principal  means  of  subsistence,  though  hunting  and  fishing  contributed 
considerably. 

2  Compare  the  Germans  and  the  North  American  Indians  in  this  respect. 
The  great  contrast  between  these  two  peoples  lay  in  the  capacity  of  the  one 
and  the  comparative  incapacity  of  the  other  for  development. 

3  The  Germans  had  no  system  of  taxation  on  land  or  other  property,  such 
as  the  Romans  had  and  such  as  we  have  to-day.  It  was  not  until  well  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  that  the  governments  of  kingdoms  built 
up  by  Germanic  peoples  in  western  Europe  came  to  be  maintained  by  any- 
thing like  what  we  would  call  taxes  in  the  modern  sense. 

4  The  lack  of  cities  and  city  life  among  the  Germans  struck  Tacitus  with 
the  greater  force  because  of  the  complete  dominance  of  city  organization  to 
which  he,  as  a  Roman,  was  accustomed.  The  Greek  and  Roman  world  was 
made  up,  in  the  last  analysis,  of  an  aggregation  of  civitates,  or  city  states. 
Among  the  ancient  Greeks  these  had  usually  been  independent;  among  the 
Romans  they  were  correlated  under  the  greater  or  lesser  control  of  a  cen- 
tralized government;  but  among  the  Germans  of  Tacitus's  time,  and  long 
after,  the  mixed  agricultural  and  nomadic  character  of  the  people  effectually 


30  THE   EARLY  GERMANS 

a  meadow,  or  a  wood  has  attracted  them.  Their  villages  are  not 
arranged  in  the  Roman  fashion,  with  the  buildings  connected 
and  joined  together,  but  every  person  surrounds  his  dwelling 
with  an  open  space,  either  as  a  precaution  against  the  disasters 
Lack  of  cities  °f  nre>  or  because  they  do  not  know  how  to  build. 
and  towns  They  make  no  use  of  stone  or  brick,  but  employ 

wood  for  all  purposes.  Their  buildings  are  mere  rude  masses, 
without  ornament  or  attractiveness,  although  occasionally  they 
are  stained  in  part  with  a  kind  of  clay  which  is  so  clear  and 
bright  that  it  resembles  painting,  or  a  colored  design.     .     .     . 

23.  A  liquor  for  drinking  is  made  out  of  barley,  or  other  grain, 
and  fermented  so  as  to  be  somewhat  like  wine.  The  dwellers 
Their  food  along  the  river-bank 1  also  buy  wine  from  traders. 
and  drink  Their  food  is  of  a  simple  variety,  consisting  of 
wild  fruit,  fresh  game,  and  curdled  milk.  They  satisfy  their 
hunger  without  making  much  preparation  of  cooked  dishes,  and 
without  the  use  of  any  delicacies  at  all.  In  quenching  their 
thirst  they  are  not  so  moderate.  If  they  are  supplied  with  as 
much  as  they  desire  to  drink,  they  will  be  overcome  by  their 
own  vices  as  easily  as  by  the  arms  of  an  enemy. 

24.  At  all  their  gatherings  there  is  one  and  the  same  kind  of 
amusement.  This  is  the  dancing  of  naked  youths  amid  swords  and 
German  lances  that  all  the  time  endanger  their  lives.  Ex- 
amusements  perience  gives  them  skill,  and  skill  in  turn  gives 
grace.  They  scorn  to  receive  profit  or  pay,  for,  however  reckless 
their  pastime,  its  reward  is  only  the  pleasure  of  the  spectators. 
Strangely  enough,  they  make  games  of  chance  a  serious  employ- 
ment, even  when  sober,  and  so  venturesome  are  they  about  win- 
ning or  losing  that,  when  every  other  resource  has  failed,  on  the 
final  throw  of  the  dice  they  will  stake  even  their  own  freedom. 

prevented  the  development  of  anything  even  approaching  urban  organiza- 
tion. Their  life  was  that  of  the  forest  and  the  pasture,  not  that  of  forum, 
theatre,  and  circus. 

1  That  is,  on  the  Rhine,  where  traders  from  the  south  brought  in  wines  and 
other  Roman  products.  The  drink  which  the  Germans  themselves  manu- 
factured was,  of  course,  a  kind  of  beer. 


A    DESCRIPTION   BY  TACITUS  31 

He  who  loses  goes  into  voluntary  slavery  and,  though  the  younger 
and  stronger  of  the  players,  allows  himself  to  be  bound  and  sold. 
Such  is  their  stubborn  persistency  in  a  bad  practice,  though  they 
themselves  call  it  honor.  Slaves  thus  acquired  the  owners  trade 
off  as  speedily  as  possible  to  rid  themselves  of  the  scandal  of 
such  a  victory. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  VISIGOTHIC  INVASION 

3.   The  Visigoths  Gross  the  Danube  (376) 

The  earliest  invasion  of  the  Roman  Empire  which  resulted  in  the  per- 
manent settlement  of  a  large  and  united  body  of  Germans  on  Roman 
soil  was  that  of  the  Visigoths  in  the  year  376.  This  invasion  was 
very  far,  however,  from  marking  the  first  important  contact  of  the  Ger- 
man and  Roman  peoples.  As  early  as  the  end  of  the  second  century 
B.C.  the  incursions  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones  (113-101)  into  southern 
Gaul  and  northern  Italy  had  given  Rome  a  suggestion  of  the  danger 
which  threatened  from  the  northern  barbarians.  Half  a  century  later, 
the  Gallic  campaigns  of  Caesar  brought  the  two  peoples  into  conflict  for 
the  first  time  in  the  region  of  the  later  Rhine  boundary,  and  had  the 
very  important  effect  of  preventing  the  impending  Germanization  of 
Gaul  and  substituting  the  extension  of  Roman  power  and  civilization  in 
that  quarter.  Roman  imperial  plans  on  the  north  then  developed  along 
ambitious  lines  until  the  year  9  a.d.,  when  the  legions  of  the  Emperor 
Augustus,  led  by  Varus,  were  defeated,  and  in  large  part  annihilated,  in 
the  great  battle  of  the  Teutoberg  Forest  and  the  balance  was  turned 
forever  against  the  Romanization  of  the  Germanic  countries.  There- 
after for  a  long  time  a  state  of  equilibrium  was  preserved  along  the 
Rhine-Danube  frontier,  though  after  the  Marcomannic  wars  in  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  second  century  the  scale  began  to  incline  more  and  more 
against  the  Romans,  who  were  gradually  forced  into  the  attitude  of 
defense  against  a  growing  disposition  of  the  restless  Germans  to  push 
the  boundary  farther  south. 

During  the  more  than  three  and  a  half  centuries  intervening  between 
the  battle  of  the  Teutoberg  and  the  crossing  of  the  Danube  by  the  Visi- 
goths, the  intermingling  of  the  two  peoples  steadily  increased.  On  the 
one  hand  were  numerous  Roman  travelers  and  traders  who  visited  the 

32 


THE    CROSSING   OF   THE    DANUBE  33 

Germans  living  along  the  frontier  and  learned  what  sort  of  people  they 
were.  The  soldiers  of  the  legions  stationed  on  the  Rhine  and  Danube 
also  added  materially  to  Roman  knowledge  in  this  direction.  But  much 
more  important  was  the  influx  of  Germans  into  the  Empire  to  serve  as 
soldiers  or  to  settle  on  lands  allotted  to  them  by  the  government.  Owing 
to  a  general  decline  of  population,  and  especially  to  the  lack  of  a  sturdy 
middle  class,  Rome  found  it  necessary  to  fill  up  her  army  with  foreigners 
and  to  reward  them  with  lands  lying  mainly  near  the  frontiers,  but  often 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  Empire.  The  over-population  of  Germany  fur- 
nished a  large  class  of  excellent  soldiers  who  were  ready  enough  to  accept 
the  pay  of  the  Roman  emperor  for  service  in  the  legions,  even  if  rendered, 
as  it  often  was,  against  their  kinsmen  who  were  menacing  the  weakened 
frontier.  From  this  source  the  Empire  had  long  been  receiving  a  large 
infusion  of  German  blood  before  any  considerable  tribe  came  within  its 
bounds  to  settle  in  a  body.  Indeed,  if  there  had  occurred  no  sudden  and 
startling  overflows  of  population  from  the  Germanic  countries,  such  as 
the  Visigothic  invasion,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  Roman  Empire 
might  yet  have  fallen  completely  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans  by 
the  quiet  and  gradu'al*  processes  just  indicated.  As  it  was,  the  pres- 
sure from  advancing  Asiatic  peoples  on  the  east  was  too  great  to  be 
withstood,  and  there  resulted,  between  the  fourth  and  sixth  centuries,  a 
series  of  notable  invasions  which  left  almost  the  entire  Western  Empire 
parceled  out  among  new  Germanic  kingdoms  established  by  force  on 
the  ruins  of  the  once  invincible  Roman  power.  The  breaking  of  the 
frontier  by  the  West  Goths  (to  whom  the  Emperor  Aurelian,  in  270, 
had  abandoned  the  rich  province  of  Dacia),  during  the  reign  of  Gratian 
in  the  West  and  of  Valens  in  the  East,  was  the  first  conspicuous  step 
in  this  great  transforming  movement. 

The  ferocious  people  to  whose  incursions  Ammianus  refers  as  the  cause 
of  the  Visigothic  invasion  were  the  Huns  [see  p.  42],  who  had  but 
lately  made  their  first  appearance  in  Europe.  Already  by  376  the  Ostro- 
gothic  kingdom  of  Hermaneric,  to  the  north  of  the  Black  Sea,  had  fallen 
before  their  onslaught,  and  the  wave  of  conquest  was  spreading  rapidly 
westward  toward  Dacia  and  the  neighboring  lands  inhabited  by  the 
Visigoths.  The  latter  people  were  even  less  able  to  make  effectual  re- 
sistance than  their  eastern  brethren  had  been.  Part  of  them  had  become 
Christians  and  were  recognizing  Fridigern  as  their  leader,  while  the  re 

Med.  Hist.— 3 


34  THE  VISIGOTHIC  INVASION 

maining  pagan  element  acknowledged  the  sway  of  Athanaric.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  Huns,  Athanaric  led  his  portion  of  the  people  into  the 
Carpathian  Mountains-  and  began  to  prepare  for  resistance,  while 
the  Christians,  led  by  Fridigern  and  Alaf  (or  Alavivus),  gathered  on 
the  Danube  and  begged  permission  to  take  refuge  across  the  river  in 
Roman  territory.  Athanaric  and  his  division  of  the  Visigoths,  hav- 
ing become  Christians,  entered  the  Empire  a  few  years  later  and  settled 
in  Moesia. 

Ammianus  Marcellinus,  author  of  the  account  of  the  Visigothic  in- 
vasion given  below,  was  a  native  of  Antioch,  a  soldier  of  Greek  ancestry 
and  apparently  of  noble  birth,  and  a  member  of  the  Eastern  emperor's 
bodyguard.  Beyond  these  facts,  gleaned  from  his  Roman  History,  we 
have  almost  no  knowledge  of  the  man.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  unknown, 
likewise  that  of  his  death,  though  from  his  writings  it  appears  that  he 
lived  well  toward  the  close  of  the  fourth  century.  His  History  began 
with  the  accession  of  Nerva,  96  a.d.,  approximately  where  the  accounts 
by  Tacitus  and  Suetonius  end,  and  continued  to  the  death  of  his  master 
Valens  in  the  battle  of  Adrianople  in  378.  It  was  divided  into  thirty-one 
books;  but  of  these  thirteen  have  been  lost,  and  some  of  those  which 
survive  are  imperfect.  Although  the  narrative  is  broken  into  rather 
provokingly  here  and  there  by  digressions  on  earthquakes  and  eclipses 
and  speculations  on  such  utterly  foreign  topics  as  the  theory  of  the  de- 
struction of  lions  by  mosquitoes,  it  nevertheless  constitutes  an  invalu- 
able source  of  information  on  the  men  and  events  of  the  era  which  it 
covers.  Its  value  is  greatest,  naturally,  on  the  period  of  the  Visigothic 
invasion,  for  in  dealing  with  these  years  the  author  could  describe  events 
about  which  he  had  direct  and  personal  knowledge.  Ammianus  is  to  be 
thought  of  as  the  last  of  the  old  Roman  school  of  historians. 

Source — Ammianus  Marcellinus,  Rerum  Gestarum  Libri  qui  Supersunt,  Bk. 
XXXI.,  Chaps.  3-4.  Translated  by  Charles  D.  Yonge  under  the 
title  of  Roman  History  during  the  Reigns  of  the  Emperors  Constan- 
tius,  Julian,  Jovianus,  Valentinian,  and  Valens  (London,  1862), 
pp.  584-586.  Text  in  edition  of  Victor  Gardthausen  (Leipzig, 
1875),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  239-240. 

In  the  meantime  a  report  spread  extensively  through  the  other 
nations  of  the  Goths  [i.e.,  the  Visigoths],  that  a  race  of  men, 
hitherto  unknown,  had  suddenly  descended  like  a  whirlwind 


THE    CROSSING    OF  THE   DANUBE  35 

from  the  lofty  mountains,  as  if  they  had  risen  from  some  secret 
recess  of  the  earth,  and  were  ravaging  and  destroying  everything 
that  came  in  their  way.  Then  the  greater  part  of  the  popula- 
,  tion  (which,  because  of  their  lack  of  necessities,  had  deserted 
Athanaric),  resolved  to  flee  and  to  seek  a  home  remote  from  all 
knowledge  of  the  barbarians;  and  after  a  long  deliberation  as  to 
where  to  fix  their  abode,  they  resolved  that  a  retreat  into  Thrace 
Visigoths  ask  was  the  most  suitable,  for  these  two  reasons:  first 
setSeSwithin°  °^  a^>  because  it  is  a  district  most  abundant  in 
the  Empire  grass;  and  in  the  second  place,  because,  by  the 
great  breadth  of  the  Danube,  it  is  wholly  separated  from  the  bar- 
barians [i.e,  the  Goths],  who  were  already  exposed  to  the  thunder- 
bolts of  foreign  warfare.  And  the  whole  population  of  the  tribe 
adopted  this  resolution  unanimously.  Accordingly,  under  the 
command  of  their  leader  Alavivus,  they  occupied  the  banks  of 
the  Danube;  and  having  sent  ambassadors  to  Valens,1  they  hum- 
bly entreated  that  .they  might  be  received  by  him  as  his  subjects, 
promising  to  live  peaceably  and  to  furnish  a  body  of  auxiliary 
troops,  if  any  necessity  for  such  a  force  should  arise. 

While  these  events  were  passing  in  foreign  countries,  a  terrible 
rumor  arose  that  the  tribes  of  the  north  were  planning  new  and 
Rumors  of  unprecedented  attacks  upon-  us,2  and  that  over 

menta  reach"  tne  wn°le  region  which  extends  from  the  country 
Rome  of   the   Marcomanni   and   Quadi   to   Pontus,3   a 

barbarian  host  composed  of  various  distant  nations  which  had 
suddenly  been  driven  by  force  from  their  own  country,  was  now, 
with  all  their  families,  wandering  about  in  different  directions 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Danube. 

At  first  this  intelligence  was  treated  lightly  by  our  people,  be- 

1  Valens  was  the  Eastern  emperor  from  364  until  his  death  in  the  battle 
of  Adrianople  in  378.  His  brother  Valentinian  was  emperor  in  the  West 
from  364  to  375.  Gratian,  son  of  Valentinian,  was  the  real  sovereign  in  the 
West  when  the  Visigoths  crossed  the  Danube. 

2  That  is,  upon  the  writer's  people,  the  Romans. 

3  The  Marcomanni  and  Quadi  occupied  a  broad  stretch  of  territory  along 
the  upper  Danube  in  what  is  now  the  northernmost  part  of  Austria-Hungary. 
Pontus  was  a  province  in  northern  Asia  Minor. 


36  THE  VISIGOTHIC   INVASION 

cause  they  were  not  in  the  habit  of  hearing  of  any  wars  in  those 
remote  regions  until  after  they  had  been  terminated  either  by  vic- 
tory or  by  treaty.  But  presently  the  belief  in  these  occurrences 
grew  stronger,  being  confirmed,  moreover,  by  the  arrival  of 
the  foreign  ambassadors  who,  with  prayers  and  earnest  en- 
Their  coming  treaties,  begged  that  the  people  thus  driven  from 
a* blessing  ^o*  their  nomes  and  now  encamped  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Empire  the  river  might  be  kindly  received  by  us.  The  affair 
seemed  a  cause  of  joy  rather  than  of  fear,  according  to  the  skilful 
flatterers  who  were  always  extolling  and  exaggerating  the  good 
fortune  of  the  Emperor;  congratulating  him  that  an  embassy  had 
come  from  the  farthest  corners  of  the  earth  unexpectedly,  offer- 
ing him  a  large  body  of  recruits,  and  that,  by  combining  the 
strength  of  his  own  nation  with  these  foreign  forces,  he  would 
have  an  army  absolutely  invincible;  observing  farther  that,  by 
the  payment  for  military  reinforcements  which  came  in  every 
year  from  the  provinces,  a  vast  treasure  of  gold  might  be  ac- 
cumulated in  his  coffers. 

Full  of  this  hope,  he  sent  several  officers  to  bring  this  ferocious 
people  and  their  wagons  into  our  territory.  And  such  great 
The  crossing  of  Pams  were  taken  to  gratify  this  nation,  which  was 
the  Danube  destined  to  overthrow  the  empire  of  Rome,  that 
not  one  was  left  behind,  not  even  of  those  who  were  stricken  with 
mortal  disease.  Moreover,  having  obtained  permission  of  the 
Emperor  to  cross  the  Danube  and  to  cultivate  some  districts  in 
Thrace,  they  crossed  the  stream  day  and  night,  without  ceasing, 
embarking  in  troops  on  board  ships  and  rafts,  and  canoes  made 
of  the  hollow  trunks  of  trees.  In  this  enterprise,  since  the  Danube 
is  the  most  difficult  of  all  rivers  to  navigate,  and  was  at  that  time 
swollen  with  continual  rains,  a  great  many  were  drowned,  who, 
because  they  were  too  numerous  for  the  vessels,  tried  to  swim 
across,  and  in  spite  of  all  their  exertions  were  swept  away  by 
the  stream. 

In  this  way,  through  the  turbulent  zeal  of  violent  people,  the 


THE   BATTLE   OF  ADRIANOPLE  37 

ruin  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  brought  on.  This,  at  all  events, 
is  neither  obscure  nor  uncertain,  that  the  unhappy  officers  who 
Number  of  the  were  intrusted  with  the  charge  of  conducting 
invaders  the  multitude  of  the  barbarians  across  the  river, 

though  they  repeatedly  endeavored  to  calculate  their  numbers, 
at  last  abandoned  the  attempt  as  useless;  and  the  man  who 
would  wish  to  ascertain  the  number  might  as  well  attempt  to 
count  the  waves  in  the  African  sea,  or  the  grains  of  sand  tossed 
about  by  the  zephyr.1 


4.  The  Battle  of  Adrianople  (378) 

Before  crossing  the  Danube  the  Visigoths  had  been  required  by  the 
Romans  to  give  up  their  arms,  and  also  a  number  of  their  children  to  be 
held  as  hostages.  In  return  it  was  understood  that  the  Romans  would 
equip  them  afresh  with  arms  sufficient  for  their  defense  and  with  food 
supplies  to  maintain  them  until  they  should  become  settled  in  their 
new  homes.  So  far  as  our  information  goes,  it  appears  that  the  Goths 
fulfilled  their  part  of  the  contract,  or  at  least  were  willing  to  do  so.  But 
the  Roman  officers  in  Thrace  saw  an  opportunity  to  enrich  themselves 
by  selling  food  to  the  famished  barbarians  at  extortionate  prices,  and  a 
few  months  of  such  practices  sufficed  to  arouse  all  the  rage  and  resent- 
ment of  which  the  untamed  Teuton  was  capable.  In  the  summer  of  378 
the  Goths  broke  out  in  open  revolt  and  began  to  avenge  themselves  by 
laying  waste  the  Roman  lands  along  the  lower  Danube  frontier.  The 
Eastern  emperor,  Valens,  hastened  to  the  scene  of  insurrection,  but  only 
to  lose  the  great  battle  of  Adrianople,  August  9,  378,  and  to  meet  his  own 
death.    "The  battle  of  Adrianople,"  says  Professor  Emerton,  "was  one 

1  Mceller  (Histoire  du  Moyen  Age,  p.  58),  estimates  that  the  Goths  who  now- 
entered  Thrace  numbered  not  fewer  than  200,000  grown  men,  accompanied 
by  their  wives  and  children.  The  Italian  Villari,  in  his  Barbarian  Invasions 
of  Italy,  Vol.  I., p.  49,  gives  the  same  estimate.  The  tendency  of  contemporary 
chroniclers  to  exaggerate  numbers  has  misled  many  older  writers.  Even 
Mceller's  and  Villari's  estimate  would  mean  a  total  of  upwards  of  a  million 
people.  That  there  were  so  many  may  well  be  doubted.  The  Vandals 
played  practically  as  important  a  part  in  the  history  of  their  times  as  did  the 
Visigoths;  yet  it  is  known  that  when  the  Vandals  passed  through  Spain,  in 
the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century,  they  numbered  not  more  than  20,000 
fighting  men,  with  their  wives  and  children. 


38  THE  VISIGOTHIC  INVASION 

of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world.  It  taught  the  Germans  that  they 
could  beat  the  legions  in  open  fight  and  that  henceforth  it  was  for  them 
to  name  the  price  of  peace.  It  broke  once  for  all  the  Rhine-Danube 
frontier."  Many  times  thereafter  German  armies,  and  whole  tribes, 
were  to  play  the  role  of  allies  of  Rome ;  but  neither  German  nor  Roman 
could  be  blinded  to  the  fact  that  the  decadent  empire  of  the  south  lay  at 
the  mercy  of  the  stalwart  sons  of  the  northern  wilderness. 


Source  — Ammianus  Marcellinus,  Rerum  Gestarum  Libri  qui  Supersunt,  Bk. 
XXXI.,  Chaps.  12-14.  Translated  by  Charles  D.  Yonge  [see  p. 
34],  pp.  608-615  passim.  Text  in  edition  of  Victor  Gardthausen 
(Leipzig,  1875),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  261-269. 

He  [Valens]  was  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  force,  neither  un- 

warlike  nor  contemptible,   and  had  united  with  them  many 

«■.     «  j.-u  veteran  bands,  among  whom  were  several  officers 

The  Goths  ap-  '  & 

proach  the  Ro-  of  high  rank — especially  Trajan,  who  a  little 
man  army  while  before  had  been  commander  of  the  forces. 

And  as,  by  means  of  spies  and  observation,  it  was  ascertained  that 
the  enemy  was  intending  to  blockade  with  strong  divisions  the 
different  roads  by  which  the  necessary  supplies  must  come,  he 
sent  a  sufficient  force  to  prevent  this,  dispatching  a  body  of  the 
archers  of  the  infantry  and  a  squadron  of  cavalry  with  all  speed 
to  occupy  the  narrow  passes  in  the  neighborhood.  Three  days 
afterwards,  when  the  barbarians,  who  were  advancing  slowly 
because  they  feared  an  attack  in  the  unfavorable  ground  which 
they  were  traversing,  arrived  within  fifteen  miles  from  the  station 
of  Nice 1  (which  was  the  aim  of  their  march) ,  the  Emperor,  with 
wanton  impetuosity,  resolved  on  attacking  them  instantly,  be- 
cause those  who  had  been  sent  forward  to  reconnoitre  (what 
led  to  such  a  mistake  is  unknown)  affirmed  that  the  entire  body 
of  the  Goths  did  not  exceed  ten  thousand  men.     .     .     .2 

*  Nice  was  about  thirty  miles  east  of  Adrianople. 

2  The  Visigoths  under  Fridigern  finally  took  their  position  near  Adrianople 
and  Valens  led  his  army  into  that  vicinity  and  pitched  his  camp,  fortifying 
it  with  a  rampart  of  palisades.  From  the  Western  emperor.  Gratian,  a 
messenger  came  asking  that  open  conflict  be  postponed  until  the  army  from 


THE   BATTLE   OF  ADRIANOPLE  39 

When  the  day  broke  which  the  annals  mark  as  the  fifth  of  the 
Ides  of  August  [Aug.  9]  the  Roman  standards  were  advanced 
with  haste.  The  baggage  had  been  placed  close  to  the  walls  of 
Adrianople,  under  a  sufficient  guard  of  soldiers  of  the  legions. 
The  treasures  and  the  chief  insignia  of  the  Emperor's  rank  were 
within  the  walls,  with  the  prefect  and  the  principal  members  of 
The  battle  the  council.1    Then,  having  traversed  the  broken 

begins  ground   which   divided   the   two   armies,   as  the 

burning  day  was  progressing  towards  noon,  at  last,  after  marching 
eight  miles,  our  men  came  in  sight  of  the  wagons  of  the  enemy, 
'  which  had  been  reported  by  the  scouts  to  be  all  arranged  in  a  circle. 
According  to  their  custom,  the  barbarian  host  raised  a  fierce  and 
hideous  yell,  while  the  Roman  generals  marshalled  their  line  of 
battle.  The  right  wing  of  the  cavalry  was  placed  in  front;  the 
chief  portion  of  the  infantry  was  kept  in  reserve.     .     .     .2 

And  while  arms  and  missiles  of  all  kinds  were  meeting  in 
fierce  conflict,  and  Bellona,3  blowing  her  mournful  trumpet,  was 
raging  more  fiercely  than  usual,  to  inflict  disaster  on  the  Romans, 
our  men  began  to  retreat;  but  presently,  aroused  by  the  re- 
proaches of  their  officers,  they  made  a  fresh  stand,  and  the  battle 
increased  like  a  conflagration,  terrifying  our  soldiers,  numbers 
of  whom  were  pierced  by  strokes  of  the  javelins  hurled  at  them, 
and  by  arrows. 

Rome  could  join  that  from  Constantinople.  But  Valens,  easily  flattered  by 
some  of  his  over-confident  generals,  foolishly  decided  to  bring  on  a  battle 
at  once.    Apparently  he  did  not  dream  that  defeat  was  possible. 

1  After  the  battle  here  described,  which  occurred  in  the  open  plain,  the 
victorious  Goths  proceeded  to  the  siege  of  the  city  itself,  in  which,  however, 
they  were  unsuccessful.  The  taking  of  fortified  towns  was  an  art  in  which 
the  Germans  were  not  skilled. 

2  When  both  armies  were  in  position  Fridigern,  "being  skilful  in  divining 
the  future,"  says  Ammianus,  "and  fearing  a  doubtful  struggle,"  sent  a 
herald  to  Valens  with  the  promise  that  if  the  Romans  would  give  hostages 
to  the  Goths  the  latter  would  cease  their  depredations  and  even  aid  the  Ro- 
mans in  their  wars.  Richomeres,  the  Roman  cavalry  leader,  was  chosen 
by  Valens  to  serve  as  a  hostage;  but  as  he  was  proceeding  to  the  Gothic 
camp  the  soldiers  who  accompanied  him  made  a  rash  attack  upon  a  division 
of  the  enemy  and  precipitated  a  battle  which  soon  spread  to  the  whole 
army. 

3  The  goddess  of  war,  regarded  in  Roman  mythology  as  the  sister  of  Mars. 


40  THE  VISIGOTHIC  INVASION 

Then  the  two  lines  of  battle  dashed  against  each  other,  like  the 
beaks  of  ships  and,  thrusting  with  all  their  might,  were  tossed  to 
and  fro  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  Our  left  wing  had  advanced 
actually  up  to  the  wagons,  with  the  intent  to  push  on  still  farther 
if  properly  supported;  but  they  were  deserted  by  the  rest  of 
the  cavalry,  and  so  pressed  upon  by  the  superior  numbers  of 
the  enemy  that  they  were  overwhelmed  and  beaten  down  like 
The  fury  of  tne  rum  0*  a  vast  rampart.  Presently  our  in- 
the  conflict  fantry  also  was  left  unsupported,  while  the  vari- 
ous companies  became  so  huddled  together  that  a  soldier 
could  hardly  draw  his  sword,  or  withdraw  his  hand  after  he  had 
once  stretched  it  out.  And  by  this  time  such  clouds  of  dust  arose 
that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  see  the  sky,  which  resounded 
with  horrible  cries;  and  in  consequence  the  darts,  which  were 
bearing  death  on  every  side,  reached  their  mark  and  fell  with 
deadly  effect,  because  no  one  could  see  them  beforehand  so  as 
to  guard  against  them.  The  barbarians,  rushing  on  with  their 
enormous  host,  beat  down  our  horses  and  men  and  left  no  spot 
to  which  our  ranks  could  fall  back  to  operate.  They  were  so 
closely  packed  that  it  was  impossible  to  escape  by  forcing  a  way 
through  them,  and  our  men  at  last  began  to  despise  death  and 
again  taking  to  their  swords,  slew  all  they  encountered,  while 
with  mutual  blows  of  battle-axes,  helmets  and  breastplates  were 
dashed  in  pieces. 

Then  you  might  see  the  barbarian,  towering  in  his  fierceness, 
hissing  or  shouting,  fall  with  his  legs  pierced  through,  or  his 
right  hand  cut  off,  sword  and  all,  or  his  side  transfixed,  and 
still,  in  the  last  gasp  of  life,  casting  around  him  defiant  glances. 
The  plain  was  covered  with  corpses,  showing  the  mutual  ruin  of 
the  combatants;  while  the  groans  of  the  dying,  or  of  men  fearfully 
wounded ,  were  intense  and  caused  much  dismay  on  all  sides.  Amid 
all  this  great  tumult  and  confusion  our  infantry  were  exhausted 
by  toil  and  danger,  until  at  last  they  had  neither  strength  left  to 
fight  nor  spirits  to  plan  anything.    Their  spears  were  broken  by 


THE  BATTLE   OF  ADRIANOPLE  41 

the  frequent  collisions,  so  that  they  were  forced  to  content  them- 
selves with  their  drawn  swords,  which  they  thrust  into  the 
The  Romans  dense  battalions  of  the  enemy,  disregarding  their 
put  to  flight  own  safety,  and  seeing  that  every  possibility 
of  escape  was  cut  off  from  them.  .  .  .  The  sun,  now  high 
in  the  heavens  (having  traversed  the  sign  of  Leo  and  reached 
the  abode  of  the  heavenly  Virgo1)  scorched  the  Romans,  who 
were  emaciated  by  hunger,  worn  out  with  toil,  and  scarcely  able 
to  support  even  the  weight  of  their  armor.  At  last  our  columns 
were  entirely  beaten  back  by  the  overpowering  weight  of  the 
barbarians,  and  so  they  took  to  disorderly  flight,  which  is  the 
only  resource  in  extremity,  each  man  trying  to  save  himself  as 
best  he  could.     .     .     . 

Scarcely  one  third  of  the  whole  army  escaped.  Nor,  except 
the  battle  of  Cannae,  is  so  destructive  a  slaughter  recorded  in  our 
annals;2  though,  even  in  the  times  of  their  prosperity,  the  Ro- 
mans have  more  than  once  been  called  upon  to  deplore  the 
uncertainty  of  war,  and  have  for  a  time   succumbed   to  evil 

Fortune. 

i  Signs  of  the  zodiac,  sometimes  employed  by  the  Romans  to  give  figura- 
tive expression  to  the  time  of  day. 

2  The  number  of  Romans  killed  at  Cannae  (216  B.C.)  is  variously  estimated, 
but  it  can  hardly  have  been  under  50,000. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   HUNS 

5.  Descriptions  by  a  Graeco-Roman  Poet  and  a  Roman  Historian 

The  Huns,  a  people  of  Turanian  stock,  were  closely  related  to  the  an- 
cestors of  the  Magyars,  or  the  modern  Hungarians.  Their  original 
home  was  in  central  Asia,  beyond  the  great  wall  of  China,  and  they  were 
in  every  sense  a  people  of  the  plains  rather  than  of  the  forest  or  of  the 
sea.  From  the  region  of  modern  Siberia  they  swept  westward  in  suc- 
cessive waves,  beginning  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  trav- 
ersed the  "gateway  of  the  nations"  between  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the 
Ural  Mountains,  and  fell  with  fury  upon  the  German  tribes  (mainly  the 
Goths)  settled  in  eastern  and  southern  Europe.  The  descriptions  of 
them  given  by  Claudius  Claudianus  and  Ammianus  Marcellinus  set 
forth  their  characteristics  as  understood  by  the  Romans  a  half-century 
or  more  before  the  invasion  of  the  Empire  by  Attila.  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  either  of  these  authors  had  ever  seen  a  Hun,  or 
had  his  information  at  first  hand.  When  both  wrote  the  Huns  were  yet 
far  outside  the  Empire's  bounds.  Tales  of  soldiers  and  travelers,  which 
doubtless  grew  as  they  were  told,  must  have  supplied  both  the  poet 
and  the  historian  with  all  that  they  knew  regarding  the  strange  Tura- 
nian invaders.  This  being  the  case,  we  are  not  to  accept  all  that  they 
say  as  the  literal  truth.  Nevertheless  the  general  impressions  which  one* 
gets  from  their  pictures  cannot  be  far  wrong. 

Claudius  Claudianus,  commonly  regarded  as  the  last  of  the  Latin 
classic  poets,  was  a  native  of  Alexandria  who  settled  at  Rome  about 
395.  For  ten  years  after  that  date  he  occupied  a  position  at  the  court 
of  the  Emperor  Honorius  somewhat  akin  to  that  of  poet-laureate. 
Much  of  his  writing  was  of  a  very  poor  quality,  but  his  descriptions 
were  sometimes  striking,  as  in  the  stanza  given  below.  On  Am- 
mianus Marcellinus  see  p.  34. 

42 


DESCRIPTION   BY   A   ROMAN   HISTORIAN  43 

Sources  —  (a)  Claudius  Claudianus,  In  Rufinum  ["Against  Rufinus"],  Bk.  I., 
323-331.  Text  in  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica,  Auctores 
Antiquissimi,  Vol.  X.,  pp.  30-31,  Translated  in  Thomas  Hodg- 
kin,  Italy  and  Her  Invaders  (Oxford,  1880),  Vol.  II.,  p.  2. 

(b)  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  Rerum  Gestarum  Libri  qui  Supersunt, 
Bk.  XXXI.,  Chaps.  2-4  [see  p.  34].  Translated  in  Hodgkin, 
ibid.,  pp.  34-38. 

(a) 

There  is  a  race  on  Scythia's *  verge  extreme 
Eastward,  beyond  the  Tanais' 2  chilly  stream. 
The  Northern  Bear3  looks  on  no  uglier  crew: 
Base  ;s  their  garb,  their  bodies  foul  to  view; 
Their  souls  are  ne'er  subdued  to  sturdy  toil 
Or  Ceres'  arts:4  their  sustenance  is  spoil. 
With  horrid  wounds  they  gash  their  brutal  brows, 
And  o'er  their  murdered  parents  bind  their  vows. 
Not  e'en  the  Centaur-offspring  of  the  Cloud  5 
Were  horsed  more  firmly  than  this  savage  crowd. 
Brisk,  lithe,  in  loose  array  they  first  come  on, 
Fly,  turn,  attack  the  foe  who  deems  them  gone. 

(b) 

The  nation  of  the  Huns,  little  known  to  ancient  records,  but 
spreading  from  the  marshes  of  Azof  to  the  Icy  Sea,6  surpasses 
all  other  barbarians  in  wildness  of  life.  In  the  first  days  of  in- 
fancy, deep  incisions  are  made  in  the  cheeks  of  their  boys,  in  order 
that  when  the  time  comes  for  whiskers  to  grow  there,  the  sprout- 
ing hairs  may  be  kept  back  by  the  furrowed  scars;  and  hence 

1  A  somewhat  indefinite  region  north  and  east  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 

2  The  modern  Don,  flowing  into  the  Sea  of  Azof. 

3  One  of  two  constellations  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  called  respectively 
the  Great  Bear  and  the  Lesser  Bear,  or  Ursa  Major  and  Ursa  Minor.  The 
Great  Bear  is  commonly  known  as  the  Dipper. 

4  That  is,  agriculture.  The  Huns  were  even  less  settled  in  their  mode  of 
life  than  were  the  early  Germans  described  by  Tacitus. 

5  A  strange  creature  of  classical  mythology,  represented  as  half  man  and 
half  horse. 

6  The  White  Sea.  It  is  hardly  to  be  believed  that  the  Huns  dwelt  so  far 
north.    This  was,  of  course,  a  matter  of  sheer  speculation  with  the  Romans. 


44  THE  HtJNS 

they  grow  to  maturity  and  to  old  age  beardless.  They  all, 
however,  have  strong,  well-knit  limbs  and  fine  necks.  Yet  they 
Ph  "  fan-  are  °^  Portentous  ugliness  and  so  crook-backed 
pearance  of  the  that  you  would  take  them  for  some  sort  of  two- 
footed  beasts,  or  for  the  roughly-chipped  stakes 
which  are  used  for  the  railings  of  a  bridge.  And  though  they  do 
just  bear  the  likeness  of  men  (of  a  very  ugly  type),  they  are  so 
little  advanced  in  civilization  that  they  make  no  use  of  fire,  nor 
of  any  kind  of  relish,  in  the  preparation  of  their  food,  but  feed 
upon  the  roots  which  they  find  in  the  fields,  and  the  half-raw 
flesh  of  any  sort  of  animal.  I  say  half-raw,  because  they  give  it 
a  kind  of  cooking  by  placing  it  between  their  own  thighs  and  the 
backs  of  their  horses.  They  never  seek  the  shelter  of  houses, 
which  they  look  upon  as  little  better  than  tombs,  and  will  enter 
only  upon  the  direst  necessity;  nor  would  one  be  able  to  find 
among  them  even  a  cottage  of  wattled  rushes;  but,  wandering  at 
large  over  mountain  and  through  forest,  they  are  trained  to  en- 
dure from  infancy  all  the  extremes  of  cold,  of  hunger,  and  of 
thirst. 

They  are  clad  in  linen  raiment,  or  in  the  skins  of  field-mice 
sewed  together,  and  the  same  suit  serves  them  for  use  in-doors 
Their  dress  and  out.  However  dingy  the  color  of  it  may 
become,  the  tunic  which  has  once  been  hung  around  their  necks 
is  never  laid  aside  nor  changed  until  through  long  decay  the  rags 
of  it  will  no  longer  hold  together.  Their  heads  are  covered  with 
bent  caps,  their  hairy  legs  with  the  skins  of  goats;  their  shoes, 
never  having  been  fashioned  on  a  last,  are  §o  clumsy  that  they 
cannot  walk  comfortably.  On  this  account  they  are  not  well 
adapted  to  encounters  on  foot;  but  on  the  other  hand  they 
are  almost  welded  to  their  horses,  which  are  hardy,  though 
of  ugly  shape,  and  on  which  they  sometimes  ride  woman's 
fashion.  On  horseback  every  man  of  that  nation  lives  night  and 
day;  on  horseback  he  buys  and  sells;  on  horseback  he  takes  his 
meat  and  drink,  and  when  night  comes  on  he  leans  forward  upon 


DESCRIPTION   BY  A  ROMAN  HISTORIAN  45 

the  narrow  neck  of  his  horse  and  there  falls  into  a  deep  sleep,  or 
wanders  into  the  varied  fantasies  of  dreams. 

When  a  discussion  arises  upon  any  matter  of  importance  they 
come  on  horseback  to  the  place  of  meeting.  No  kingly  sternness 
overawes  their  deliberations,  but  being,  on  the  whole,  well- 
contented  with  the  disorderly  guidance  of  their  chiefs,  they  do 
not  scruple  to  interrupt  the  debates  with  anything  that  comes 
into  their  heads.  When  attacked,  they  will  sometimes  engage 
in  regular  battle.  Then,  going  into  the  fight  in  order  of  columns, 
Their  mode  they  fill  the  air  with  varied  and  discordant  cries. 
of  fighting  More  often,  however,  they  fight  in  no  regular 

order  of  battle,  but  being  extremely  swift  and  sudden  in  their 
movements,  they  disperse,  and  then  rapidly  come  together 
again  in  loose  array,  spread  havoc  over  vast  plains  and,  flying 
over  the  rampart,  pillage  the  camp  of  their  enemy  almost  be- 
fore he  has  become  aware  of  their  approach.  It  must  be  granted 
that  they  are  the  nimblest  of  warriors.  The  missile  weapons 
which  they  use  at  a  distance  are  pointed  with  sharpened  bones 
admirably  fastened  to  the  shaft.  When  in  close  combat  they 
fight  without  regard  to  their  own  safety,  and  while  the  enemy 
is  intent  upon  parrying  the  thrusts  of  their  swords  they  throw  a 
net  over  him  and  so  entangle  his  limbs  that  he  loses  all  power  of 
walking  or  riding. 

Not  one  among  them  cultivates  the  ground,  or  ever  touches  a 
plow-handle.  All  wander  abroad  without  fixed  abodes,  without 
Their  nomadic  home,  or  law,  or  settled  customs,  like  perpetual 
character  fugitives,  with  their  wagons  for  their  only  habi- 

tations. If  you  ask  them,  not  one  can  tell  you  what  is  his  place 
of  origin.  They  are  ruthless  truce-breakers,  fickle,  always  ready 
to  be  swayed  by  the  first  breath  of  a  new  desire,  abandoning 
themselves  without  restraint  to  the  most  ungovernable  rage. 

Finally,  like  animals  devoid  of  reason,  they  are  utterly  igno- 
rant of  what  is  proper  and  what  is  not.  They  are  tricksters  with 
words  and  full  of  dark  sayings.    They  are  never  moved  by  either 


46  THE   HUNS 

religious  or  superstitious  awe.  They  burn  with  unquenchable 
thirst  for  gold,  and  they  are  so  changeable  and  so  easily  moved 
to  wrath  that  many  times  in  the  day  they  will  quarrel  with  their 
comrades  on  no  provocation,  and  be  reconciled,  having  received 
no  satisfaction. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EARLY  FRANKS 

6.  The  Deeds  of  Clovis  as  Related  by  Gregory  of  Tours 

The  most  important  historical  writer  among  the  early  Franks  was 
a  bishop  whose  full  name  was  Georgius  Florentius  Gregorius,  but  who 
has  commonly  i>een  known  ever  since  his  day  as  Gregory  of  Tours. 
The  date  of  his  birth  is  uncertain,  but  it  was  probably  either  539  or 
540.  He  was  not  a  Frank,  but  a  man  of  mixed  Roman  and  Gallic 
descent,  his  parentage  being  such  as  to  rank  him  among  the  nobility 
of  his  native  district,  Auvergne.  At  the  age  of  thirty-four  he  was  elected 
bishop  of  Tours,  and  this  important  office  he  held  until  his  death  in 
594.  During  this  long  period  of  service  he  won  distinction  as  an  able 
church  official,  as  an  alert  man  of  affairs,  and  as  a  prolific  writer  on 
ecclesiastical  subjects.  Among  his  writings,  some  of  which  have  been 
lost,  were  a  book  on  the  Christian  martyrs,  biographies  of  several  holy 
men  of  the  Church,  a  commentary  on  the  Psalms,  and  a  treatise  on 
the  officers  of  the  Church  and  their  duties. 

But  by  far  his  largest  and  most  important  work  was  his  Ecclesias- 
tical History  of  the  Franks,  in  ten  books,  written  well  toward  the  end  of 
his  life.  It  is  indeed  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  interesting  pieces 
of  literature  produced  in  any  country  during  the  Middle  Ages.  For 
his  starting  point  Gregory  went  back  to  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  what 
he  gives  us  in  his  first  book  is  only  an  amusing  but  practically  worth- 
less account  of  the  history  of  the  world  from  Adam  to  St.  Martin  of 
Tours,  who  died  probably  in  397.  In  the  second  book,  however,  he 
comes  more  within  the  range  of  reasonable  tradition,  if  not  of  actual 
information,  and  brings  the  story  down  to  the  death  of  Clovis  in  511. 
In  the  succeeding  eight  books  he  reaches  the  year  591,  though  it  is 
thought  by  some  that  the  last  four  were  put  together  after  the  author's 
death  by  some  of  his  associates.    However  that  may  be,  we  may  rest 

47 


48  THE   EARLY   PRANKS 

assured  that  the  history  grows  in  accuracy  as  it  approaches  the  period 
in  which  it  was  written.  Naturally  it  is  at  its  best  in  the  later  books, 
where  events  are  described  that  happened  within  the  writer's  life- 
time, and  with  many  of  which  he  had  a  close  connection.  Gregory  was 
a  man  of  unusual  activity  and  of  wide  acquaintance  among  the  in- 
fluential people  of  his  day.  He  served  as  a  counselor  of  several  Frank- 
ish  kings  and  was  a  prominent  figure  at  their  courts.  The  shrine  of 
St.  Martin  of  Tours1  was  visited  by  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  and  by  conversation  with  them  Gregory  had  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  keep  informed  as  to  what  was  going  on  among  the  Franks, 
and  among  more  distant  peoples  as  well.  He  was  thus  fortunately  situ- 
ated for  one  who  proposed  to  write  the  history  of  his  times.  As  a 
bishop  of  the  orthodox  Church  he  had  small  regard  for  Arians  and  other 
heretics,  and  so  was  in  some  ways  less  broad-minded  than  we  could 
wish ;  and  of  course  he  shared  the  superstition  and  ignorance  of  his  age, 
as  will  appear  in  some  of  the  selections  below.  Still,  without  his  exten- 
sive history  we  should  know  far  less  than  we  now  do  concerning  the 
Frankish  people  before  the  seventh  century.  He  mixes  legend  with  fact 
in  a  most  confusing  manner,  but  with  no  intention  whatever  to  deceive. 
The  men  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  knew  no  other  way  of  writing 
history  and  their  readers  were  not  critical  as  we  are  to-day.  The 
passages  quoted  below  from  Gregory's  history  give  some  interesting 
information  concerning  the  Frankish  conquerors  of  Gaul,  and  at  the 
same  time  show  something  of  the  spirit  of  Gregory  himself  and  of  the 
people  of  his  times. 

Particularly  interesting  is  the  account  of  the  conversion  of  Clovis 
and  of  the  Franks  to  Christianity.  When  the  Visigoths,  Ostrogoths, 
Vandals,  Lombards,  and  Burgundians  crossed  the  Roman  frontiers 
and  settled  within  the  bounds  of  the  old  Empire  they  were  all  Chris- 
tians in  name,  however  much  their  conduct  might  be  at  variance  with 

i  St.  Martin  was  born  in  Pannonia  somewhat  before  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century.  For  a  time  he  followed  his  father's  profession  as  a  soldier  in 
the  service  of  the  Roman  emperor,  but  later  he  went  to  Gaul  with  the  pur- 
pose of  aiding  in  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  Church  in  that  quarter. 
In  372  he  was  elected  bishop  of  Tours  and  shortly  afterwards  he  founded  the 
monastery  with  which  his  name  was  destined  to  be  associated  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages.  This  monastery,  which  was  one  of  the  earliest  in  western 
Europe,  became  a  very  important  factor  in  the  prolonged  combat  with  Gallic 
paganism,  and  subsequently  a  leading  center  of  ecclesiastical  learning. 


THE  DEEDS  OF  CLOVIS  AS  RELATED  BY  GREGORY     49 

their  profession.  The  Franks,  on  the  other  hand,  established  them- 
selves in  northern  Gaul,  as  did  the  Saxons  in  Britain,  while  they  were 
yet  pagans,  worshipping  Woden  and  Thor  and  the  other  strange  deities 
of  the  Germans.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  King  Clovis, 
or,  more  definitely,  in  the  year  496,  that  the  change  came.  In  his 
Ecclesiastical  History  Gregory  tells  us  how  up  to  this  time  all  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Christian  queen,  Clotilde,  had  been  exerted  in  vain  to 
bring  her  husband  to  the  point  of  renouncing  his  old  gods.  In  his  wars 
and  conquests  the  king  had  been  very  successful  and  apparently  he 
was  pretty  well  satisfied  with  the  favors  these  old  gods  had  showered 
upon  him  and  was  unwilling  to  turn  his  back  upon  such  generous 
patrons.  But  there  came  a  time,  in  496,  in  the  course  of  the  war  with 
the  Alemanni,  when  the  tide  of  fortune  seemed  to  be  turning  against 
the  Frankish  king.  In  the  great  battle  of  Strassburg  the  Franks  were 
on  the  point  of  being  beaten  by  their  foe,  and  Clovis  in  desperation 
made  a  vow,  as  the  story  goes,  that  if  Clotilde 's  God  would  grant  him 
a  victory  he  would  immediately  become  a  Christian.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  reason,  the  victory  was  won  and  the  king,  with  charac- 
teristic German  fidelity  to  his  word,  proceeded  to  fulfill  his  pledge. 
Amid  great  ceremony  he  was  baptized,  and  with  him  three  thousand 
of  his  soldiers  the  same  day.  The  great  majority  of  Franks  lost  little 
time  in  following  the  royal  example. 

Two  important  facts  should  be  emphasized  in  connection  with  this 
famous  incident.  The  first  is  the  peculiar  character  of  the  so-called 
"conversion"  of  Clovis  and  his  Franks.  We  to-day  look  upon  re- 
ligious conversion  as  an  inner  experience  of  the  individual,  apt  to  be 
brought  about  by  personal  contact  between  a  Christian  and  the  person 
who  is  converted.  It  was  in  no  such  sense  as  this,  however,  that  the 
Franks — or  any  of  the  early  Germans,  for  that  matter — were  made 
Christian.  They  looked  upon  Christianity  as  a  mere  portion  of  Roman 
civilization  to  be  adopted  or  let  alone  as  seemed  best;  but  if  it  were 
adopted,  it  must  be  by  the  whole  tribe  or  nation,  not  by  individuals 
here  and  there.  In  general,  the  German  peoples  took  up  Christianity, 
,not  because  they  became  convinced  that  their  old  religions  were  false, 
but  simply  because  they  were  led  to  believe  that  the  Christian  faith 
was  in  some  ways  better  than  their  own  and  so  might  profitably  be 
taken  advantage  of  by  them.  Clovis  believed  he  had  won  the  battle 
Med.  Hist.— 4 


50  THE   EARLY   FRANKS 

of  Strassburg  with  the  aid  of  the  Christian  God  when  Woden  and 
Thor  were  about  to  fail  him;  therefore  he  reasoned  that  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  in  the  future  to  make  sure  that  the  God  of  Clotilde  should 
always  be  on  his  side,  and  obviously  the  way  to  do  this  was  to  become 
himself  a  Christian.  He  did  not  wholly  abandon  the  old  gods,  but 
merely  considered  that  he  had  found  a  new  one  of  superior  power. 
Hence  he  enjoined  on  all  his  people  that  they  become  Christians;  and 
for  the  most  part  they  did  so,  though  of  course  we  are  not  to  suppose 
that  there  was  any  very  noticeable  change  in  their  actual  conduct  and 
mode  of  life,  at  least  for  several  generations. 

The  second  important  point  to  observe  is  that,  whereas  all  of  the  other 
Germanic  peoples  on  the  continent  had  become  Christians  of  the 
Arian  type,  the  Franks  accepted  Christianity  in  its  orthodox  form  such 
as  was  adhered  to  by  the  papacy.  This  was  sheer  accident.  The 
Franks  took  the  orthodox  rather  than  the  heretical  religion  simply 
because  it  was  the  kind  that  was  carried  to  them  by  the  missionaries, 
not  at  all  because  they  were  able,  or  had  the  desire,  to  weigh  the  two 
creeds  and  choose  the  one  they  liked  the  better.  But  though  they 
became  orthodox  Christians  by  accident,  the  fact  that  they  became 
such  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  mediaeval  history,  for  by  being 
what  the  papacy  regarded  as  true  Christians  rather  than  heretics  they 
began  from  the  start  to  be  looked  to  by  the  popes  for  support.  Their 
kings  in  time  became  the  greatest  secular  champions  of  papal  interests, 
though  relations  were  sometimes  far  from  harmonious.  This  virtual 
alliance  of  the  popes  and  the  Frankish  kings  is  a  subject  which  will 
repay  careful  study. 

Source — Gregorius  Episcopus  Turonensis,  Historia  Ecclesiastica  Francorum 
[Gregory  of  Tours,  "Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Franks"],  Bk.  II., 
Chaps.  27-43  passim.  Text  in  Monumentd  Germanics  Historica, 
Scriptores  Return  Merovingicarum,  Vol.  I.,  Part  1,  pp.  88-89,  90- 
95,  98-100,  158-159. 

27.  After  all  these  things  Childeric 1  died  and  his  son  Clovis  ruled 
in  his  stead.  In  the  fifth  year  of  the  new  reign  Syagrius,  son  of 
iEgidius,  was  governing  as  king  of  the  Romans  in  the  town  of 

i  Childeric  L,  son  of  the  more  or  less  mythical  Merovius,  was  king  from  457 
to  481.  Clovis  became  ruler  of  the  Salian  branch  of  the  Franks  in  this  latter 
year.    The  tomb  of  Childeric  was  discovered  at  Tournai  in  1653. 


THE   DEEDS   OF   CLOVIS   AS   RELATED    BY   GREGORY  51 

Soissons,  where  his  father  had  held  sway  before  him.1  Clovis 
now  advanced  against  him  with  his  kinsman  Ragnachar,  who 
also  held  a  kingdom,  and  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  select  a 
field  of  battle.  Syagrius  did  not  hesitate,  for  he  was  not  at  all 
afraid  to  risk  an  encounter.  In  the  conflict  which  followed, 
however,  the  Roman  soon  saw  that  his  army  was  doomed  to 
destruction;  so,  turning  and  fleeing  from  the  field,  he  made  all 
The  battle  of  haste  to  take  refuge  with  King  Alaric  at  Tou- 
Soissons(486)  iouse.2  Clovis  then  sent  word  to  Alaric  that  he 
must  hand  over  the  defeated  king  at  once  if  he  did  not  wish  to 
bring  on  war  against  himself.  Fearing  the  anger  of  the  Franks, 
therefore,  as  the  Goths  continually  do,  Alaric  bound  Syagrius 
with  chains  and  delivered  him  to  the  messengers  of  King  Clovis. 
As  soon  as  the  latter  had  the  prisoner  in  his  possession  he  put 
him  under  safe  guard  and,  after  seizing  his  kingdom,  had  him 
secretly  slain.3 

At  this  time  the  army  of  Clovis  plundered  many  churches,  for 
the  king  was  still  sunk  in  the  errors  of  idolatry.  Upon  one  occa- 
sion the  soldiers  carried  away  from  a  church,  along  with  other 
ornaments  of  the  sacred  place,  a  remarkably  large  and  beautiful 
vase.  The  bishop  of  that  church  sent  messengers  to  the  king  to 
Th  f       ask  that,  even  if  none  of  the  other  holy  vessels 

the  broken  might  be  restored,  this  precious  vase  at  least 
might  be  sent  back.  To  the  messengers  Clovis 
could  only  reply:  "Come  with  us  to  Soissons,  for  there  all  the 
booty  is  to  be  divided.  If  when  we  cast  lots  the  vase  shall  fall 
to  me,  I  will  return  it  as  the  bishop  desires. " 

When  they  had  reached  Soissons  and  all  the  booty  had  been 

1  iEgidius  and  his  son  Syagrius  were  the  last  official  representatives  of  the 
Roman  imperial  power  in  Gaul;  and  since  the  fall  of  the  Empire  in  the 
West  even  they  had  taken  the  title  of  "  king  of  the  Romans  "  and  had  been 
practically  independent  sovereigns  in  the  territory  between  the  Somme  and 
the  Loire,  with  their  capital  at  Soissons,  northeast  of  Paris. 

2  Alaric  II.,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  485-507. 

a  The  battle  of  Soissons  in  486,  with  the  defeat  and  death  of  Syagrius, 
insured  for  the  Franks  undisputed  possession  southward  to  the  Loire,  which 
was  the  northern  frontier  of  the  Visigothic  kingdom. 


52  THE  EARLY   FRANKS 

brought  together  in  the  midst  of  the  army  the  king  called  atten- 
tion to  the  vase  and  said,  "I  ask  you,  most  valiant  warriors,  to 
allow  me  to  have  the  vase  in  addition  to  my  rightful  share." 
Then  even  those  of  his  men  who  were  most  self-willed  answered : 
"O  glorious  king,  all  things  before  us  are  thine,  and  we  ourselves 
are  subject  to  thy  control.  Do,  therefore,  what  pleases  thee  best, 
for  no  one  is  able  to  resist  thee."  But  when  they  had  thus 
spoken,  one  of  the  warriors,  an  impetuous,  jealous,  and  vain  man, 
raised  his  battle-ax  aloft  and  broke  the  vase  in  pieces,  crying  as 
he  did  so,  "Thou  shalt  receive  no  part  of  this  booty  unless  it  fall 
to  you  by  a  fair  lot."  And  at  such  a  rash  act  they  were  all 
astounded. 

The  king  pretended  not  to  be  angry  and  seemed  to  take  no 
notice  of  the  incident,  and  when  it  happened  that  the  broken 
vase  fell  to  him  by,  lot  he  gave  the  fragments  to  the  bishop's 
messengers;  nevertheless  he  cherished  a  secret  indignation  in 
his  heart.  A  year  later  he  summoned  all  his  soldiers  to  come 
fully  armed  to  the  Campus  Martius,  so  that  he  might  make  an 
Clevis's  inspection  of  his  troops.1    After  he  had  reviewed 

revenge  ^^e  wnoie  army  he  finally  came  across  the  very 

man  who  had  broken  the  vase  at  Soissons.  "No  one,"  cried  out 
the  king  to  him,  "carries  his  arms  so  awkwardly  as  thou;  for 
neither  thy  spear  nor  thy  sword  nor  thy  ax  is  ready  for  use,"  and 
he  struck  the  ax  out  of  the  soldier's  hands  so  that  it  fell  to  the 
ground.  Then  when  the  man  bent  forward  to  pick  it  up  the 
king  raised  his  own  ax  and  struck  him  on  the  head,  saying, 
"Thus  thou  didst  to  the  vase  at  Soissons."  Having  slain  him, 
he  dismissed  the  others,  filled  with  great  fear.2  .  .  . 

i  The  Campus  Martius  was  the  "March-field,"  i.  e.,  the  assembling  place 
of  the  Frankish  army.  It  was  not  regularly  in  any  one  locality  but  wherever 
the  king  might  call  the  soldiers  together,  as  he  did  every  spring  for  purposes 
of  review.  In  the  eighth  century  the  month  of  May  was  substituted  for 
March  as  the  time  for  the  meeting. 

2  In  the  words  of  Hodgkin  (Charles  the  Great,  p.  12),  "the  well-known 
stoiy  of  the  vase  of  Soissons  illustrates  at  once  the  German  memories  of 
freedom  and  the  Merovingian  mode  of  establishing  a  despotism.  As  a  battle 
comrade  the  Frankish  warrior  protests  against  Clovis  receiving  an  ounce 


THE  DEEDS  OF  CLOVIS  AS  RELATED  BY  GREGORY    53 

30.  The  queen  did  not  cease  urging  the  king  to  acknowledge  the 
true  God  and  forsake  idols,  but  all  her  efforts  failed  until  at  length 
a  war  broke  out  with  the  Alemanni.1  Then  of  necessity  he  was 
compelled  to  confess  what  hitherto  he  had  wilfully  denied.  It 
happened  that  the  two  armies  were  in  battle  and  there  was  great 
slaughter.2  The  army  of  Clovis  seemed  about  to  be  cut  in  pieces. 
Then  the  king  raised  his  hands  fervently  toward  the  heavens 
and,  breaking  into  tears,  cried:  "  Jesus  Christ,  who  Clotilde  de- 
clares to  be  the  son  of  the  living  God,  who  it  is  said  givest  help  to 
the  oppressed  and  victory  to  those  who  put  their  trust  in  thee, 
I  invoke  thy  marvellous  help.  If  thou  wilt  give  me  victory  over 
my  enemies  and  I  prove  that  power  which  thy  followers  say  they 
have  proved  concerning  thee,  I  will  believe  in  thee  and  will  be 
baptized  in  thy  name;  for  I  have  called  upon  my  own  gods  and 
it  is  clear  that  they  have  neglected  to  give  me  aid.  Therefore  I 
am  convinced  that  they  have  no  power,  for  they  do  not  help  those 
Clovis  decides  w^°  serve  them.  I  now  call  upon  thee,  and  I 
to  become  a  wish  to  believe  in  thee,  especially  that  I  may 
escape  from  my  enemies."  When  he  had  offered 
this  prayer  the  Alemanni  turned  their  backs  and  began  to  flee. 
And  when  they  learned  that  their  king  had  been  slain,  they  sub- 
mitted at  once  to  Clovis,  saying,  "Let  no  more  of  our  people 
perish,  for  we  now  belong  to  you."  When  he  had  stopped  the 
battle  and  praised  his  soldiers  for  their  good  work,  Clovis  returned 
in  peace  to  his  kingdom  and  told  the  queen  how  he  had  won  the 
victory  by  calling  on  the  name  of  Christ.  These  events  took 
place  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign.3 

beyond  his  due  share  of  the  spoils.  As  a  battle  leader  Clovis  rebukes  his 
henchman  for  the  dirtiness  of  his  accoutrements,  and  cleaves  his  skull  to 
punish  him  for  his  independence." 

1  The  Alemanni  were  a  German  people  occupying  a  vast  region  about  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Rhine  and  Danube.  They  had  been  making  repeated 
efforts  to  acquire  territory  west  of  the  Rhine — an  encroachment  which 
Clovis  resolved  not  to  tolerate. 

2  The  battle  was  fought  near  Strassburg,  in  the  upper  Rhine  valley. 

3  The  ultimate  result  of  the  defeat  of  the  Alemanni  was  that  the  Frankieh 
kingdom  was  enlarged  by  the  annexation  of  the  great  region  known 
in  the  later  Middle  Ages   as  Suabia,  comprising   modern   Alsace,  Baden, 


54  THE    EARLY    FRANKS 

31.  Then  the  queen  sent  secretly  to  the  blessed  Remigius,  bishop 
of  Rheims,  and  asked  him  to  bring  to  the  king  the  gospel  of 
salvation.  The  bishop  came  to  the  court  where,  little  by  little, 
he  led  Clovis  to  believe  in  the  true  God,  maker  of  heaven  and 
earth,  and  to  forsake  the  idols  which  could  help  neither  him  nor 
any  one  else.  "  Willingly  will  I  hear  thee,  0  holy  father,"  declared 
the  king  at  last,  "but  the  people  who  are  under  my  authority 
are  not  ready  to  give  up  their  gods.  I  will  go  and  consult  them 
about  the  religion  concerning  which  you  speak."  When  he  had 
come  among  them,  and  before  he  had  spoken  a  word,  all  the  peo- 
ple, through  the  influence  of  the  divine  power,  cried  out  with 
one  voice:  "O  righteous  king,  we  cast  off  our  mortal  gods  and 
we  are  ready  to  serve  the  God  who  Remigius  tells  us  is  immortal." 

When  this  was  reported  to  the  bishop  he  was  beside  himself 
with  joy,  and  he  at  once  ordered  the  baptismal  font  to  be  pre- 
pared. The  streets  were  shaded  with  embroidered  hangings; 
the  churches  were  adorned  with  white  tapestries,  exhaling  sweet 
odors;   perfumed  tapers  gleamed;  and  all   the  temple  of  the 

.  baptistry   was   filled   with   a   heavenly   odor,   so 

Trie  baptism 

of  Clovis  and  that  the  people  might  well  have  believed  that 
God  in  His  graciousness  showered  upon  them  the 
perfumes  of  Paradise.  Then  Clovis,  having  confessed  that  the 
God  of  the  Trinity  was  all-powerful,  was  baptized  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  was 
anointed  with  the  holy  oil  with  the  sign  of  the  cross.  More  than 
three  thousand  of  his  soldiers  were  baptized  with  him.  .  .  . 

35.  Now  when  Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  saw  that  Clovis  was 
conquering  many  nations,  he  sent  messengers  to  him,  saying,  "  If 
it  please  my  brother,  let  us,  with  the  favor  of  God,  enter  into  an 
alliance."    Clovis  at  once  declared  his  willingness  to  do  as  Alaric 

Wurtemberg,  the  western  part  of  Bavaria,  and  the  northern  part  of  Switzer- 
land. The  Alemanni  as  a  people  disappeared  speedily  from  history,  being 
absorbed  by  their  more  powerful  neighbors.  Their  only  monument  to-day 
is  the  name  by  which  the  French  have  always  known  the  people  of  Germany 
— Allemands. 


THE   DEEDS   OF   CLOVIS   AS   RELATED    BY   GREGORY  55 

suggested  and  the  two  kings  met  on  an  island  in  the  Loire,  near 
the  town  of  Amboise  in  the  vicinity  of  Tours.1  There  they  talked, 
ate,  and  drank  together,  and  after  making  mutual  promises  of 
friendship  they  departed  in  peace. 

37.  But  Clovis  said  to  his  soldiers:  "It  is  with  regret  that  I  see 
the  Arian  heretics  in  possession  of  any  part  of  Gaul.  Let  us, 
with  the  help  of  God,  march  against  them  and,  after  having  con- 
quered them,  bring  their  country  under  our  own  control."  This 
proposal  was  received  with  favor  by  all  the  warriors  and  the 
army  started  on  the  campaign,  going  towards  Poitiers,  where 
Clovis  resolves  Alaric  was  then  staying.  As  a  portion  of  the 
Visigoths'  troops  passed  through  the  territory  about  Tours, 

lands  in  Gaul  Clovis,  out  of  respect  for  the  holy  St.  Martin, 
forbade  his  soldiers  to  take  anything  from  the  country  except 
grass  for  the  horses.  One  soldier,  having  come  across  some  hay 
which  belonged  to  a  poor  man  said,  "  Has,  then,  the  king  given  us 
permission  to  take  only  grass?  O  well!  hay  is  grass.  To  take  it 
would  not  be  to  violate  the  command."  And  by  force  he  took 
the  hay  away  from  the  poor  man.  When,  however,  the  matter 
was  brought  to  the  king's  attention  he  struck  the  offender  with 
his  sword  and  killed  him,  saying,  "How,  indeed,  may  we  hope 
for  victory  if  we  give  offense  to  St.  Martin?"  This  was  enough 
thereafter  to  prevent  the  army  from  plundering  in  that  country. 

When  Clovis  arrived  with  his  forces  at  the  banks  of  the  Vienne 

he  was  at  a  loss  to  know  where  to  cross,  because  the  heavy  rains 

_,.  .  .  had  swollen  the  stream.  During  the  night  he 
Miraculous  in-  &  & 

cidents  of  the     prayed   that   the   Lord   would   reveal   to   him  a 

camp  lg  passage.      The    following    morning,    under    the 

guidance  of  God,  a  doe  of  wondrous  size  entered  the  river  in 

1  The  Loire  was  the  boundary  between  the  dominions  -of  the  two  kings. 
There  have  been  many  famous  instances  in  history  of  two  sovereigns  coming 
together  to  confer  at  some  point  on  the  common  border  of  the  territories 
controlled  by  them,  notably  the  interview  of  Napoleon  and  Tsar  Alexander  I. 
on  the  Niemen  River  in  1807.  The  Franks  and  the  Visigoths  had  been 
enemies  ever  since  by  Clovis's  defeat  of  Syagrius  their  dominions  had  been 
brought  into  contact  (486),  and  the  present  jovial  interview  of  the  two  kings 
did  not  long  keep  them  at  peace  with  each  other. 


56  THE  EARLY  FRANKS 

plain  sight  of  the  army  and  crossed  by  a  ford,  thus  pointing  out 
the  way  for  the  soldiers  to  get  over.  When  they  were  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Poitiers  the  king  saw  at  some  distance  from  his 
tent  a  ball  of  fire,  which  proceeded  from  the  steeple  of  the  church 
of  St.  Hilary1  and  seemed  to  him  to  advance  in  his  direction,  as 
if  to  show  that  by  the  aid  of  the  light  of  the  holy  St.  Hilary  he 
would  triumph  the  more  easily  over  the  heretics  against  whom 
the  pious  priest  had  himself  often  fought  for  the  faith.  Clovis 
then  forbade  his  army  to  molest  any  one  or  to  pillage  any  prop- 
erty in  that  part  of  the  country. 

Clovis  at  length  engaged  in  battle  with  Alaric,  king  of  the 
Goths,  in  the  plain  of  Vouille  at  the  tenth  mile-stone  from 
Poitiers.2  The  Goths  fought  with  javelins,  but  the  Franks 
charged  upon  them  with  lances.  Then  the  Goths  took  to  flight, 
as  is  their  custom,3  and  the  victory,  with  the  aid  of  God,  fell  to 
Clovis.     He  had  put  the  Goths  to  flight  and  killed  their  king, 

_  _.  .  ..  Alaric,  when  all  at  once  two  soldiers  bore  down 
The  Visigoths  ' 

defeated  by  upon  him  and  struck  him  with  lances  on  both 
0V1S  *  '  sides  at  once;  but,  owing  to  the  strength  of  his 
armor  and  the  swiftness  of  his  horse,  he  escaped  death.  After 
the  battle  Amalaric,  son  of  Alaric,  took  refuge  in  Spain  and  ruled 
wisely  over  the  kingdom  of  his  father.4  Alaric  had  reigned 
twenty-two  years.  Clovis,  after  spending  the  winter  at  Bor- 
deaux and  carrying  from  Toulouse  all  the  treasure  of  the  king, 
advanced  on  Angouleme.  There  the  Lord  showed  him  such 
favor  that  at  his  very  approach  the  walls  of  the  city  fell  down  of 

1  St.  Hilary  was  bishop  of  Poitiers  in  the  later  fourth  century.  He  was  a 
contemporary  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours  and  a  co-worker  with  him  in  the  organi- 
zation of  Gallic  Christianity. 

2  The  plain  of  Vouille"  was  ten  miles  west  of  Poitiers. 

3  This  amusing  comment  of  Gregory  was  due  largely  to  his  prejudice  in 
favor  of  the  Franks  and  against  the  heretical  Visigoths. 

*  The  Visigothic  kingdom  in  Spain,  with  its  capital  at  Toledo,  endured 
until  the  Saracen  conquest  of  that  country  in  711  and  the  years  immediately 
following,  but  it  did  not  give  evidence  of  much  strength.  It  stood  so  long 
only  because  the  Pyrenees  made  a  natural  boundary  against  the  Franks  and 
because,  after  Clovis,  for  two  hundred  years  the  Franks  produced  no  great 
conqueror  who  cared  to  crowd  the  Visigoths  into  still  closer  quarters. 


THE  DEEDS  OF  CLOVIS  AS  RELATED  BY  GREGORY  57 

their  own  accord.1  After  driving  out  the  Goths  he  brought  the 
place  under  his  own  authority.  Thus,  crowned  with  victory, 
he  returned  to  Tours  and  bestowed  a  great  number  of  presents 
upon  the  holy  church  of  the  blessed  Martin.2 

40.  Now  while  Clovis  was  living  at  Paris  he  sent  secretly  to  the 
son  of  Sigibert,3  saying:  " Behold  now  your  father  is  old  and 
lame.  If  he  should  die  his  kingdom  would  come  to  you  and  my 
friendship  with  it."  So  the  son  of  Sigibert,  impelled  by  his 
ambition,  planned  to  slay  his  father.  And  when  Sigibert  set 
out  from  Cologne  and  crossed  the  Rhine  to  go  through  the 
Buchonian  forest,4  his  son  had  him  slain  by  assassins  while  he 
was  sleeping  in  his  tent,  in  order  that  he  might  gain  the  kingdom 
for  himself.  But  by  the  judgment  of  God  he  fell  into  the  pit 
which  he  had  digged  for  his  father.  He  sent  messengers  to  Clovis 
to  announce  the  death  of  his  father  and  to  say:  "My  father  is 
dead  and  I  have  his  treasures,  and  likewise  the  kingdom.  Now 
send  trusted  men  to  me,  that  I  may  give  them  for  you  whatever 
you  would  like  out  of  his  treasury."  Clovis  replied:  "I  thank 
you  for  your  kindness  and  will  ask  you  merely  to  show  my 
messengers  all  your  treasures,  after  which  you  may  keep  them 
yourself."  And  when  the  messengers  of  Clovis  came,  the  son  of 
Sigibert  showed  them  the  treasures  which  his  father  had  collected. 

1  Clovis,  particularly  after  his  conversion  to  Christianity  in  496,  was  the 
hero  of  Gregory's  history  and  apparently  the  enthusiastic  old  bishop  did  not 
lose  an  opportunity  to  glorify  his  career.  At  any  rate  it  would  certainly  be 
difficult  to  relate  anything  more  remarkable  about  him  than  this  legend  of 
the  walls  of  Angouleme  falling  down  before  him  at  his  mere  approach. 

2  This  notable  campaign  had  advanced  Frankish  territory  to  the  Pyrenees, 
except  for  the  strip  between  these  mountains  and  the  Rhone,  known  as 
Septimania,  which  the  Visigoths  were  able  to  retain  by  the  aid  of  the  Ostro- 
goths from  Italy.  No  great  number  of  Franks  settled  in  this  broad  territory 
south  of  the  Loire,  and  to  this  day  the  inhabitants  of  south  France  show  a 
much  larger  measure  of  Roman  descent  than  do  those  of  the  north.  It  may 
be  added  that  Septimania  was  conquered  by  Clo vis's  son  Childebert  in  531, 
and  thus  the  last  bit  of  old  Gaul — practically  modern  France — was  brought 
under  Frankish  control. 

3  This  was  Cloderic,  son  of  Sigibert  the  Lame,  king  of  a  tribe  of  Franks 
living  along  the  middle  Rhine.  Sigibert  was  one  of  the  numerous  indepen- 
dent and  rival  princes  whom  Clovis  used  every  expedient  to  put  out  of  the 
way. 

*  Along  the  Upper  Weser,  near  the  monastery  of  Fulda. 


58  THE  EARLY   FRANKS 

And  while  they  were  looking  at  various  things,  he  said:  "My 
father  used  to  keep  his  gold  coins  in  this  little  chest."  And 
Other  means  they  said,  "Put  your  hand  down  to  the  bottom, 
vis  Extended"  ^at  ^ou  ma^  sh°w  us  everything."  But  when  he 
his  power  stooped  to  do  this,  one  of  the  messengers  struck 

him  on  the  head  with  his  battle-ax,  and  thus  he  met  the  fate 
which  he  had  visited  upon  his  father. 

Now  when  Clovis  heard  that  both  Sigibert  and  his  son  were 
dead,  he  came  to  that  place  and  called  the  people  together  and 
said  to  them:  "Hear  what  has  happened.  While  I  was  sailing 
on  the  Scheldt  River,  Cloderic,  son  of  Sigibert,  my  relative, 
attacked  his  father,  pretending  that  I  had  wished  him  to  slay 
him.  And  so  when  his  father  fled  through  the  Buchonian  forest, 
the  assassins  of  Cloderic  set  upon  him  and  slew  him.  But  while 
Cloderic  was  opening  his  father's  treasure  chest,  some  man 
unknown  to  me  struck  him  down.  I  am  in  no  way  guilty  of  these 
things,  for  I  could  not  shed  the  blood  of  my  relatives,  which  is 
very  wicked.  But  since  these  things  have  happened,  if  it  seems 
best  to  you,  I  advise  you  to  unite  with  me  and  come  under  my 
protection."  And  those  who  heard  him  applauded  his  speech,' 
and,  raising  him  on  a  shield,  acknowledged  him  as  their  king. 
Thus  Clovis  gained  the  kingdom  of  Sigibert  and  his  treasures, 
and  won  over  his  subjects  to  his  own  rule.  For  God  daily  con- 
founded his  enemies  and  increased  his  kingdom,  because  he 
walked  uprightly  before  Him  and  did  that  which  was  pleasing  in 
His  sight. 

42.  Then  Clovis  made  war  on  his  relative  Ragnachar.1  And 
when  the  latter  saw  that  his  army  was  defeated,  he  attempted 
to  flee;  but  his  own  men  seized  him  and  his  brother  Richar  and 
brought  them  bound  before  Clovis.  Then  Clovis  said:  "Why 
The  removal  have  you  disgraced  our  family  by  allowing  your- 
rivais  self  to  be  taken  prisoner?     It  would  have  been 

better  for  you  had  you  been  slain."    And,  raising  his  battle-ax, 

i  Ragnachar's  kingdom  was  in  the  region  about  Cambrai. 


THE   LAW  OF  THE  SALIAN   FRANKS  59 

he  slew  him.  Then,  turning  to  Richar,  he  said,  "If  you  had 
aided  your  brother  he  would  not  have  been  taken;"  and  he  slew 
him  with  the  ax  also.  Thus  by  their  death  Clovis  took  their 
kingdom  and  treasures.  And  many  other  kings  and  relatives 
of  his,  who  he  feared  might  take  his  kingdom  from  him,  were 
slain,  and  his  dominion  was  extended  over  all  Gaul. 

43.  And  after  these  things  he  died  at  Paris  and  was  buried  in 
the  basilica  of  the  holy  saints  which  he  and  his  queen,  Clotilde, 
The  death  had  built.     He  passed   away  in  the  fifth  year 

of  Clovis  (511;  after  the  battle  of  Vouille,  and  all  the  days  of 
his  reign  were  thirty  years. 

7.  The  Law  of  the  Salian  Franks 

When  the  Visigoths,  Lombards,  and  other  Germanic  peoples  settled' 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  Empire  they  had  no  such  thing  as 
written  law.  They  had  laws,  and  a  goodly  number  of  them,  but  these 
laws  were  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  orally,  having 
never  been  enacted  by  a  legislative  body  or  decreed  by  a  monarch  in 
the  way  that  laws  are  generally  made  among  the  civilized  peoples  of 
to-day.  In  other  words,  early  Germanic  law  consisted  simply  of  an 
accumulation  of  the  immemorial  custom  of  the  tribe.  When,  for 
example,  a  certain  penalty  had  been  paid  on  several  occasions  by 
persons  who  had  committed  a  particular  crime,  men  came  naturally 
to  regard  that  penalty  as  the  one  regularly  to  be  paid  by  any  one  proved 
guilty  of  the  same  offense;  so  that  what  was  at  first  only  habit  gradually 
became  hardened  into  law — unwritten  indeed,  but  none  the  less  bind- 
ing. The  law  thus  made  up,  moreover,  was  personal  rather  than  terri- 
torial like  that  of  the  Romans  and  like  ours  to-day.  That  is,  the  same 
laws  did  not  apply  to  all  the  people  throughout  any  particular  country 
or  region.  If  a  man  were  born  a  Visigoth  he  would  be  subject  to  Visi- 
gothic  law  throughout  life,  no  matter  where  he  might  go  to  live.  So 
the  Burgundian  would  always  have  the  right  to  be  judged  by  Bur- 
gundian  law,  and  the  Lombard  by  the  Lombard  law.  Obviously,  in 
regions  where  several  peoples  dwelt  side  by  side,  as  in  large  portions 
of  Gaul,  Spain,  and  northern  Italy,  there  was  no  small  amount  of  con- 


60  THE  EARLY  FRANKS 

fusion  and  the  courts  had  to  be  conducted  in  a  good  many  different 
ways. 

After  the  Germans  had  been  for  some  time  in  contact  with  the  Ro- 
mans they  began  to  be  considerably  influenced  by  the  customs  and 
ways  of  doing  things  which  they  found  among  the  more  civilized  peo- 
ple. They  tried  to  master  the  Latin  language,  though,  on  the  whole, 
they  succeeded  only  so  well  as  to  create  the  new  "Romance  "tongues 
which  we  know  as  French,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  Italian.  They 
adopted  the  Roman  religion,  i.  e.,  Christianity.  And,  among  the  most 
important  things  of  all,  they  took  up  the  Roman  idea  of  having  their 
law  written  out  rather  than  in  the  uncertain  shape  of  mere  tradition. 
In  this  work  of  putting  the  old  customary  law  in  written  form  the  way 
was  led  by  the  Salian  branch  of  the  Franks.  Just  when  the  Salic  code 
was  drawn  up  is  not  known,  but  the  work  was  certainly  done  at  some 
time  during  the  reign  of  Clovis,  probably  about  the  year  496.  The 
portions  of  this  code  which  are  given  below  will  serve  to  show  the 
general  character  of  all  the  early  Germanic  systems  of  law — Visigothic, 
Lombard,  Burgundian,  and  Frisian,  as  well  as  Frankish;  for  among 
them  all  there  was  much  uniformity  in  principles,  though  considerable 
variation  in  matters  of  detail.  Like  the  rest,  the  Salic  law  was  frag- 
mentary. The  codes  were  not  intended  to  embrace  the  entire  law  of 
the  tribe,  but  simply  to  bring  together  in  convenient  form  those  por- 
tions which  were  most  difficult  to  remember  and  which  were  most  useful 
for  ready  reference.  In  the  Salic  code,  for  instance,  we  find  a  large 
amount  of  criminal  law  and  of  the  law  of  procedure,  but  only  a  few 
touches  of  the  law  of  property,  or  indeed  of  civil  law  of  any  sort.  There 
is  practically  nothing  in  the  way  of  public  or  administrative  law.  Many 
things  are  not  mentioned  which  we  should  expect  to  find  treated  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  some  things  are  there  which  we  should  not  look  for 
ordinarily  in  a  code  of  law.  The  greater  portion  is  taken  up  with 
an  enumeration  of  penalties  for  various  crimes  and  wrongful  acts. 
These  are  often  detailed  so  minutely  as  to  be  rather  amusing  from  our 
modern  point  of  view.  Yet  every  one  of  the  sixty-five  chapters  of 
the  code  has  its  significance  and  from  the  whole  law  can  be  gleaned 
an  immense  amount  of  information  concerning  the  manner  of  life  which 
prevailed  in  early  Frankish  Gaul.  For  the  Merovingian  period  in 
general  the   Salic   law  is  our  most  valuable  documentary  source  of 


THE   LAW  OF   THE   SALIAN  FRANKS  61 

knowledge,  just  as  for  the  same  epoch  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
Gregory  of  Tours  is  our  most  important  narrative  source. 


Source— Text  in  Heinrich  Geffcken,  Lex  Salica  ["The  Salic  Law"],  Leipzig, 
1898;  also  Heinrich  Gottfried  Gengler,  Germanische  Rechtsdenkmaler 
["Monuments  of  German  Law"],  Erlangen,  1875,  pp.  267-303. 
Adapted  from  translation  in  Ernest  F.  Henderson,  Select  Historical 
Documents  of  the  Middle  Ages  (London,  1896),  pp.  176-189. 

I. 

1.  If  any  one  be  summoned  before  the  mallus1  by  the  king's 
law,  and  do  not  come,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  600  denarii, 
which  make  15  solidi.2 

2.  But  he  who  summons  another,  and  does  not  come  him- 
self, if  a  lawful  impediment  have  not  delayed  him,  shall  be 
Summonses  to  sentenced  to  15  solidi,  to  be  paid  to  him  whom 
ofthTlocar     he.  summoned. 

courts*  3.   And   he   who   summons   another   shall   go 

with  witnesses  to  the  home  of  that  man,  and,  if  he  be  not  at  home, 
shall  enjoin  the  wife,  or  any  one  of  the  family,  to  make  known  to 
him  that  he  has  been  summoned  to  court. 

4.  But  if  he  be  occupied  in  the  king's  service  he  cannot  sum- 
mon him. 

1  The  mallus  was  the  local  court  held  about  every  six  weeks  in  each  com- 
munity or  hundred.  In  early  German  law  the  state  has  small  place  and  the 
principle  of  self-help  by  the  individual  is  very  prominent.  To  bring  a  suit 
one  summons  his  opponent  himself  and  gets  him  to  appear  at  court  if  he  can. 
Ordinarily  the  court  merely  determines  the  method  by  which  the  guilt  or 
innocence  of  the  accused  may  be  tested.  Execution  of  the  sentence  rests 
again  with  the  plaintiff,  or  with  his  family  or  clan  group. 

2  "The  monetary  system  of  the  Salic  law  was  taken  from  the  Romans. 
The  basis  was  the  gold  solidus  of  Constantine,  yV  of  a  pound  of  gold.  The  small 
coin  was  the  silver  denarius,  forty  of  which  made  a  solidus.  This  system 
was  adopted  as  a  monetary  reform  by  Clovis,  and  the  statement  of  the  sum 
in  terms  of  both  coins  is  probably  due  to  the  newness  of  the  system  at  the  time 
of  the  appearance  of  the  law." — Thatcher  and  McNeal,  Source  Book  for 
Mediceval  History,  p.  17.  The  gold  solidus  was  worth  somewhere  from  two 
and  a  half  to  three  dollars,  but  its  purchasing  power  was  perhaps  equal  to 
that  of  twenty  dollars  to-day,  because  gold  and  silver  were  then  so  much 
scarcer  and  more  valuable.  Such  estimates  of  purchasing  power,  ho'wever, 
involve  so  great  uncertainty  as  to  be  practically  worthless. 


62  THE   EARLY  FRANKS 

5.  And  if  he  shall  be  inside  the  hundred  attending  to  his  own 
affairs,  he  can  summon  him  in  the  manner  just  explained. 

XI. 

1.  If  any  freeman  steal,  outside  of  a  house,  something  worth 
2  denarii,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  600  denarii,  which  make  15 
solidi. 

2.  But  if  he  steal,  outside  of  a  house,  something  worth  40 
Theft  by  denarii,  and  it  be  proved  on  him,  he  shall  be 
a  freeman  sentenced,  besides  the  amount  and  the  fines  for 
delay,   to    1,400   denarii,  which  make  35  solidi. 

3.  If  a  freeman  break  into  a  house  and  steal  something  worth 
2  denarii,  and  it  be  proved  on  him,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  15 
solidi. 

4.  But  if  he  shall  have  stolen  something  worth  more  than  5 
denarii,  and  it  be  proved  on  him,  he  shall  be  sentenced,  be- 
sides the  value  of  the  object  and  the  fines  for  delay,  to  1,400 
denarii,  which  make  35  solidi. 

5.  But  if  he  shall  have  broken,  or  tampered  with,  the  lock, 
and  thus  have  entered  the  house  and  stolen  anything  from  it, 
he  shall  be  sentenced,  besides  the  value  of  the  object  and  the 
fines  for  delay,  to  1,800  denarii,  which  make  45  solidi. 

6.  And  if  he  shall  have  taken  nothing,  or  have  escaped  by 
flight,  he  shall,  for  the  housebreaking  alone,  be  sentenced  to 
1,200  denarii,  which  make  30  solidi. 

XII. 

1.  If  a  slave  steal,  outside  of  a  house,  something  worth  2 
Theft  by  denarii,  besides  paying  the  value  of  the  object 
a  slave  an(j  ^e  f[nes  for  delay,  he  shall  be  stretched  out 
and  receive  120  blows. 

2.  But  if  he  steal  something  worth  40  denarii,  he  shall  pay 
6  solidi.  The  lord  of  the  slave  who  committed  the  theft  shall 
restore  to  the  plaintiff  the  value  of  the  object  and  the  fines  for 
delay. 


THE   LAW   OF  THE   SALIAN   FRANKS  63 

XIV. 

1.  If  any  one  shall  have  assaulted  and  robbed  a  freeman,  and 
it  be  proved  on  him,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  2,500  denarii,  which 
Robbery  with     make  63  solidi. 

assault  2.    If  a   Roman   shall   have   robbed   a   Salian 

Frank,  the  above  law  shall  be  observed. 

3.  But  if  a  Frank  shall  have  robbed  a  Roman,  he  shall  be 
sentenced  to  35  solidi. 

XV. 

1.  If  any  one  shall  set  fire  to  a  house  in  which  people  were 
sleeping,  as  many  freemen  as  were  in  it  can  make  complaint 
The  crime  of  before  the  mallus;  and  if  any  one  shall  have  been 
incendiarism  burned  in  it,  the  incendiary  shall  be  sentenced  to 
2,500  denarii,  which  make  63  solidi.1 

XVII. 

1.  If  any  one  shall  have  sought  to  kill  another  person,  and 
the  blow  shall  have  missed,  he  on  whom  it  was  proved  shall  be 
sentenced  to  2,500  denarii,  which  make  63  solidi. 

2.  If  any  person  shall  have  sought  to  shoot  another  with  a 

Various  deeds    poisoned  arrow,  and  the  arrow  has  glanced  aside, 
of  violence  and  it  shall  be  proveci   on  him^   he  shall  be  gen_ 

tenced  to  2,500  denarii,  which  make  63  solidi. 
•    5.    If  any  one  shall  have  struck  a  man  so  that  blood  falls  to 
the  floor,  and  it  be  proved  on  him,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  600 
denarii,  which  make  15  solidi. 

6.  But  if  a  freeman  strike  a  freeman  with  his  fist  so  that  blood 
does  not  flow,  he  shall  be  sentenced  for  each  blow — up  to  3 
blows — to  120  denarii,  which  make  3  solidi.2 

1  The  Burgundian  law  (Chap.  41)  contained  a  provision  that  if  a  man 
made  a  fire  on  his  own  premises  and  it  spread  to  fences  or  crops  belonging 
to  another  person,  and  did  damage,  the  man  who  made  the  fire  should  recom- 
pense his  neighbor  for  his  loss,  provided  it  could  be  shown  that  there  was  no 
wind  to  drive  the  fire  beyond  control.  If  there  was  such  a  wind,  no  penalty 
was  to  be  exacted. 

2  The  law  of  the  Lombards  had  a  more  elaborate  system  of  fines  for  wounds 


64  THE    EARLY   FRANKS 

XIX. 

1.  If  any  one  shall  have  given  herbs  to  another,  so  that  he 
die,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  200  solidi,  or  shall  surely  be  given 
Use  of  poison     over  to  fire. 

or  witchcraft  2.    If  any  person  shall  have  bewitched  another, 

and  he  who  was  thus  treated  shall  escape,  the  author  of  the 
crime,  having  been  proved  guilty  of  it,  shall  be  sentenced  to  2,500 
denarii,  which  make  63  solidi. 

XXX. 

6.  If  any  man  shall  have  brought  it  up  against  another  that 
Punishment  ne  nas  thrown  away  his  shield,  and  shall  not  have 
for  slander  been  akie  to  pr0Ve  it,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to 
120  denarii,  which  make  3  solidi.1 

7.  If  any  man  shall  have  called  another  "gossip"  or  "per- 
jurer," and  shall  not  have  been  able  to  prove  it,  he  shall  be  sen- 
tenced to  600  denarii,  which  make  15  solidi. 

XXXIV. 

1.  If  any  man  shall  have  cut  3  staves  by  which  a  fence  is 
bound  or  held  together,  or  shall  have  stolen  or  cut  the  heads  of 
3  stakes,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  600  denarii,  which  make  15 
solidi. 

2.  If  any  one  shall  have  drawn  a  harrow  through  another's 

than  did  the  Salic  code.  For  example,  knocking  out  a  man's  front  teeth  was 
to  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  solidi  per  tooth;  knocking  out  back 
teeth  at  the  rate  of  eight  solidi  per  tooth;  fracturing  an  arm,  sixteen  solidi; 
cutting  off  a  second  finger,  seventeen  solidi;  cutting  off  a  great  toe,  six  solidi; 
cutting  off  a  little  toe,  two  solidi;  giving  a  blow  with  the  fist,  three  solidi; 
with  the  palm  of  the  hand,  six  solidi;  and  striking  a  person  on  the  head  so  as 
to  break  bones,  twelve  solidi  per  bone.  In  the  latter  case  the  broken  bones 
were  to  be  counted  "on  this  principle,  that  one  bone  shall  be  found  large 
enough  to  make  an  audible  sound  when  thrown  against  a  shield  at  twelve 
feet  distance  on  the  road ;  the  said  feet  to  be  measured  from  the  foot  of  a  man 
of  moderate  stature." 

1  The  man  who  had  "thrown  away  his  shield"  was  the  coward  who  had 
fled  from  the  field  of  battle.  How  the  Germans  universally  regarded  such  a 
person  appears  in  the  Germania  of  Tacitus,  Chap.  6  (see  p.  25).  To  impute 
this  ignominy  to  a  man  was  a  serious  matter. 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  SALIAN   FRANKS  65 

field  of  grain  after  the  seed  has  sprouted,  or  shall  have  gone 
The  offense  through  it  with  a  wagon  where  there  was  no  road, 
of  trespass  ^e  snan  be  sentenced  to  120  denarii,  which  make 
3  solidi. 

3.  If  any  one  shall  have  gone,  where  there  is  no  road  or  path, 
through  another's  field  after  the  grain  has  grown  tall,  he  shall 
be  sentenced  to  600  denarii,  which  make  15  solidi. 

XLI. 

1.  If  any  one  shall  have  killed  a  free  Frank,  or  a  barbarian 
living  under  the  Salic  law,  and  it  shall  have  been  proved  on  him, 
he  shall  be  sentenced  to  8,000  denarii. 

2.  But  if  he  shall  have  thrown  him  into  a  well  or  into  the 
Punishments  water,  or  shall  have  covered  him  with  branches 
for  homicide  or  anything  else,  to  conceal  him,  he  shall  be 
sentenced  to  24,000  denarii,  which  make  600  solidi. 

3.  If  any  one  shall  have  slain  a  man  who  is  in  the  service  of  the 
king,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  24,000  denarii,  which  make  600 
solidi.1 

4.  But  if  he  shall  have  put  him  in  the  water,  or  in  a  well,  and 
covered  him  with  anything  to  conceal  him,  he  shall  be  sentenced 
to  72,000  denarii,  which  make  1,800  solidi. 

5.  If  any  one  shall  have  slain  a  Roman  who  eats  in  the  king's 
palace,  and  it  shall  have  been  proved  on  him,  he  shall  be  sen- 
tenced to  12,000  denarii,  which  make  300  solidi.2 

6.  But  if  the  Roman  shall  not  have  been  a  landed  proprietor 
and  table  companion  of  the  king,  he  who  killed  him  shall  be  sen- 
tenced to  4,000  denarii,  which  make  100  solidi. 

1  This  was  the  so-called  "triple  wergeld. "  That  is,  the  lives  of  men  in  the 
service  of  the  king  were  rated  three  times  as  high  as  those  of  ordinary  free 
persons. 

2  Here  is  an  illustration  of  the  personal  character  of  Germanic  law.  There 
is  one  law  for  the  Frank  and  another  for  the  Roman,  though  both  peoples 
were  now  living  side  by  side  in  Gaul.  The  price  put  upon  the  life  of  the 
Frankish  noble  who  was  in  the  king's  service  was  600  solidi  (§3),  but 
that  on  the  life  of  the  Roman  noble  in  the  same  service  was  but  half  that 
amount.  The  same  proportion  held  for  the  ordinary  freemen,  as  will  be 
seen  by  comparing  §  §  1  and  6. 

Med.  Hist.— 5 


66  THE   EARLY    FRANKS 

7.  If  he  shall  have  killed  a  Roman  who  was  obliged  to 
pay  tribute,  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  63  solidi. 

9.  If  any  one  shall  have  thrown  a  freeman  into  a  well,  and  he 
has  escaped  alive,  he  [the  criminal]  shall  be  sentenced  to  4,000 
denarii,  which  make  100  solidi. 

XLV. 

1.  If  any  one  desires  to  migrate  to  another  village,  and  if  one 
or  more  who  live  in  that  village  do  not  wish  to  receive  him — 
Right  of  even  if   there  be  only  one  who  objects — he  shall 

migration  no^  have  the  right  to  move  there. 

3.  But  if  any  one  shall  have  moved  there,  and  within  12 
months  no  one  has  given  him  warning,  he  shall  remain  as  secure 
as  the  other  neighbors. 

L. 

1.  If  any  freeman  or  leet1  shall  have  made  to  another  a  promise 
to  pay,  then  he  to  whom  the  promise  was  made  shall,  within  40 
Enforcement  days,  or  within  such  time  as  was  agreed  upon 
of  debt  when  he  made  the  promise,  go  to  the  house  of 

that  man  with  witnesses,  or  with  appraisers.  And  if  he  [the 
debtor]  be  unwilling  to  make  the  promised  payment,  he  shall  be 
sentenced  to  15  solidi  above  the  debt  which  he  had  promised. 

LIX. 

1.  If  any  man  die  and  leave  no  sons,  the  father  and  mother 
shall  inherit,  if  they  survive. 

Rights  of  2.   If  the  father  and  mother  do  not  survive, 

inheritance         and  he  leave  brothers  or  sisters,  they  shall  inherit. 

3.  But  if  there  are  none,  the  sisters  of  the  father  shall  inherit. 

4.  But  if  there  are  no  sisters  of  the  father,  the  sisters  of  the 
mother  shall  claim  the  inheritance. 

i  A  leet  was  such  a  person  as  we  in  modern  times  commonly  designate  as  a 
serf— a  man  only  partially  free. 


THE  LAW  OF  THE   SALIAN  FRANKS  67 

5.  If  there  are  none  of  these,  the  nearest  relatives  on  the 
father's  side  shall  succeed  to  the  inheritance. 

6.  Of  Salic  land  no  portion  of  the  inheritance  shall  go  to  a 
woman;  but  the  whole  inheritance  of  the  land  shall  belong  to  the 
male  sex.1 

LXII. 

1.  If  any  one's  father  shall  have  been  slain,  the  sons  shall  have 
half  the  compounding  money  [wergeld];  and  the  other  half,  the 
Payment  of  nearest  relatives,  as  well  on  the  mother's  as  on 
wergeld  the  father's  side,  shall  divide  among  themselves.2 

2.  But  if  there  are  no  relatives,  paternal  or  maternal,  that 
portion  shall  go  to  the  fisc.3 

1  This  has  been  alleged  to  be  the  basis  of  the  misnamed  "Salic  Law" 
by  virtue  of  which  no  woman,  in  the  days  of  the  French  monarchy,  was 
permitted  to  inherit  the  throne.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  exclu- 
sion of  women  from  the  French  throne  was  due,  not  to  this  or  to  any  other 
early  Frankish  principle,  but  to  later  circumstances  which  called  for  stronger 
monarchs  in  France  than  women  have  ordinarily  been  expected  to  be.  The 
history  of  the  modern  "Salic  Law"  does  not  go  back  of  the  resolution  of 
the  French  nobles  in  1317  against  the  general  political  expediency  of  female 
sovereigns  [see  p.  420]. 

2  The  wergeld  was  the  value  put  by  the  law  upon  every  man's  life.  Its 
amount  varied  according  to  the  rank  of  the  person  in  question.  The  present 
section  specifies  how  the  wergeld  paid  by  a  murderer  should  be  divided 
among  the  relatives  of  the  slain  man. 

3  That  is,  to  the  king's  treasury. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  ANGLES  AND  SAXONS  IN  BRITAIN 

8.  The  Saxon  Invasion  (cir.  449) 

The  Venerable  Bede,  the  author  of  the  passage  given  below,  was 
born  about  673  in  Northumberland  and  spent  most  of  his  life  in  the 
Benedictine  abbey  of  Jarrow  on  the  Tyne,  where  he  died  in  735.  He 
was  a  man  of  broad  learning  and  untiring  industry,  famous  in  all  parts 
of  Christendom  by  reason  of  the  numerous  scholarly  books  that  he 
wrote.  The  chief  of  these  was  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  English 
People,  covering  the  period  from  the  first  invasion  of  Britain  by  Caesar 
(b.c.  55)  to  the  year  731.  In  this  work  Bede  dealt  with  many  mat- 
ters lying  properly  outside  the  sphere  of  church  history,  so  that  it 
is  exceedingly  valuable  for  the  light  which  it  throws  on  both  the  mili- 
tary and  political  affairs  of  the  early  Anglo-Saxons  in  Britain.  As  an 
historian  Bede  was  fair-minded  and  as  accurate  as  his  means  of  in- 
formation permitted. 

The  Angle  and  Saxon  seafarers  from  the  region  we  now  know  as 
Denmark  and  Hanover  had  infested  the  shores  of  Britain  for  two  cen- 
turies or  more  before  the  coming  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  which  Bede 
here  describes.  The  withdrawal  of  the  Roman  garrisons  about  the 
year  410  left  the  Britons  at  the  mercy  of  the  wilder  Picts  and  Scots  of 
the  north  and  west,  and  as  a  last  resort  King  Vortigern  decided  to  call 
in  the  Saxons  to  aid  in  his  campaign  of  defense.  Such,  at  least,  is  the 
story  related  by  Gildas,  a  Romanized  British  chronicler  who  wrote  about 
the  year  560,  and  this  was  the  view  adopted  by  Bede.  Recent  writers, 
as  Mr.  James  H.  Ramsay  in  his  Foundations  of  England,  are  inclined 
to  cast  serious  doubts  upon  the  story  because  it  seems  hardly  probable 
that  any  king  would  have  taken  so  foolish  a  step  as  that  attributed 
to  Vortigern.1      At  any  rate,  whether  by  invitation  or  for  pure  love 

» James  H.  Ramsay,  The  Foundations  of  England  (London,  1898),  L,  p.  121. 

68 


THE  SAXON   INVASION  69 

of  seafaring  adventure,  certain  it  is  that  the  Saxons  and  Angles  made 
their  appearance  at  the  little  island  of  Thanet,  on  the  coast  of  Kent, 
and  found  the  country  so  much  to  their  liking  that  they  chose  to  re- 
main rather  than  return  to  the  over-populated  shores  of  the  Baltic. 
There  are  many  reasons  for  believing  that  people  of  Germanic  stock 
had  been  settled  more  or  less  permanently  in  Britain  long  before  the 
traditional  invasion  of  Hengist  and  Horsa.  Yet  we  are  justified  in 
thinking  of  this  interesting  expedition  as,  for  all  practical  purposes,  the 
beginning  of  the  long  and  stubborn  struggle  of  Germans  to  possess  the 
fruitful  British  isle.  While  Visigoths  and  Ostrogoths,  Vandals  and 
Lombards  were  breaking  across  the  Rhine-Danube  frontier  and  find- 
ing new  homes  in  the  territories  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  Angles, 
Saxons,  and  Jutes  from  the  farther  north  were  led  by  their  seafaring 
instincts  to  make  their  great  movement,  not  by  land,  but  by  water, 
and  into  a  country  which  the  Romans  had  a  good  while  before  been 
obliged  to  abandon.  There  they  were  free  to  develop  their  own  peculiar 
Germanic  life  and  institutions,  for  the  most  part  without  undergoing 
the  changes  which  settlement  among  the  Romans  produced  in  the  case 
of  the  tribes  whose  migrations  were  towards  the  Mediterranean. 


Source' — Bseda,  Historia  Ecclesiastica  Gentis  Anglorum  [Bede,  "  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  the  English  People"],  Bk.  I.,  Chaps.  14-15.  Translated 
by  J.  A.  Giles  (London,  1847),  pp.  23-25. 

They  consulted  what  was  to  be  done,1  and  where  they  should 
seek  assistance  to  prevent  or  repel  the  cruel  and  frequent  incur- 
The  Britons  si°ns  of  the  northern  nations.  And  they  all 
decide  to  call  agreed  with  their  king,  Vortigern,  to  call  over  to 
their  aid,  from  the  parts  beyond  the  sea,  the 
Saxon  nation;  which,  as  the  outcome  still  more  plainly  showed, 
appears  to  have  been  done  by  the  inspiration  of  ouV  Lord  Him- 
self, that  evil  might  fall  upon  them  for  their  wicked  deeds. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  449,2  Martian,  being  made  emperor 

1  Bede  has  just  been  describing  a  plague  which  rendered  the  Britons  at 
this  time  even  more  unable  than  usual  to  withstand  the  fierce  invaders  from 
the  north;  also  lamenting  the  luxury  and  crime  which  a  few  years  of  relief 
from  war  had  produced  among  his  people. 

2  This  date  is  evidently  incorrect.    Martian  and  Valentinian  III.  became 


70  THE  ANGLES  AND   SAXONS   IN  BRITAIN 

with  Valentinian,  the  forty-sixth  from  Augustus,  ruled  the 
Empire  seven  years.  Then  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  or  Saxons, 
being  invited  by  the  aforesaid  king,  arrived  in  Britain  with  three 
long  ships,  and  had  a  place  assigned  them  to  reside  in  by  the  same 
king,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  island,1  that  they  might  thus 
appear  to  be  fighting  for  their  country,  while  their  real  inten- 
tions were  to  enslave  it.  Accordingly  they  engaged  with  the 
enemy,  who  were  come  from  the  north  to  give  battle,  and  ob- 
tained the  victory;  which,  being  known  at  home  in  their  own 
country,  as  also  the  fertility  of  the  islands  and  the  cowardice  of 
the  Britons,  a  larger  fleet  was  quickly  sent  over,  bringing  a  still 
greater  number  of  men,  who,  being  added  to  the  former,  made 
The  Saxons  UP  an  mvmcmle  army.  The  newcomers  received 
settle  in  the  from  the  Britons  a  place  to  dwell,  upon  condition 
that  they  should  wage  war  against  their  enemies 
for  the  peace  and  security  of  the  country,  while  the  Biitons 
agreed  to  furnish  them  with  pay. 

Those  who  came  over  were  of  the  three  most  powerful  nations 
of  Germany — Saxons,  Angles,  and  Jutes.  From  the  Jutes  are 
descended  the  people  of  Kent  and  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
those  also  in  the  province  of  the  West  Saxons  who  are  to  this  day 
called  Jutes,  seated  opposite  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  From  the 
Saxons,  that  is,  the  country  which  is  now  called  Old  Saxony, 
came  the  East  Saxons,  the  South  Saxons,  and  the  West  Saxons. 
From  the  Angles,  that  is,  the  country  which  is  called  Anglia, 
and  which  is  said,  from  that  time,  to  remain  desert  to  this  day, 
between  the  provinces  of  the  Jutes  and  the  Saxons,  are  descended 
the  East  Angles,  the  Midland  Angles,  Mercians,  all  the  race  of 
the  Northumbrians,  that  is,  of  those  nations  that  dwell  on  the 

joint  rulers  of  the  Empire  in  450;  hence  this  is  the  year  that  Bede  probably 
meant. 

1  That  is,  Thanet,  which  practically  no  longer  exists  as  an  island.  In 
Bede's  day  it  was  separated  from  the  rest  of  Kent  by  nearly  half  a  mile  of 
water,  but  since  then  the  coast  line  has  changed  so  that  the  land  is  cut 
through  by  only  a  tiny  rill.  The  intervening  ground,  however,  is  marshy 
and  only  partially  reclaimed. 


THE  SAXON  INVASION  71 

north  side  of  the  River  Humber,  and  the  other  nations  of  the 
English. 

The  first  two  commanders  are  said  to  have  been  Hengist  and 
Horsa.  Horsa,  being  afterwards  slain  in  battle  by  the  Britons,1 
Hengist  and  was  buried  in  the  eastern  part  of  Kent,  where  a 
Horsa  monument  bearing  his  name  is  still  in  existence. 

They  were  the  sons  of  Victgilsus,  whose  father  was  Vecta,  son 
of  Woden;  from  whose  stock  the  royal  races  of  many  provinces 
trace  their  descent.  In  a  short  time  swarms  of  the  aforesaid 
nations  came  over  into  the  island,  and  they  began  to  increase  so 
much  that  they  became  a  terror  to  the  natives  themselves  who 
had  invited  them.  Then,  having  on  a  sudden  entered  into  a 
league  with  the  Picts,  whom  they  had  by  this  time  repelled  by 
Th    s  the  force  of  their  arms,  they  began  to  turn  their 

turn  against  weapons  against  their  confederates.  At  first 
they  obliged  them  to  furnish  a  greater  quantity 
of  provisions;  and,  seeking  an  occasion  to  quarrel,  protested  that 
unless  more  plentiful  supplies  were  brought  them  they  would 
break  the  confederacy  and  ravage  all  the  island;  nor  were  they 
backward  in  putting  their  threats  in  execution. 

They  plundered  all  the  neighboring  cities  and  country,  spread 
the  conflagration  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  sea  with- 
out any  opposition,  and  covered  almost  every  part  of  the 
island.  Public  as  well  as  private  structures  were  overturned; 
_,    .    .  the  priests  were  everywhere  slain  before  the  altars; 

tation  of  the  the  prelates  and  the  people,  without  any  respect 
of  persons,  were  destroyed  with  fire  and  sword; 
nor  were  there  any  to  bury  those  who  had  been  thus  cruelly 
slaughtered.  Some  of  the  miserable  remainder,  being  taken  in 
the  mountains,  were  butchered  in  heaps.  Others,  driven  by 
hunger,  came  forth  and  submitted  themselves  to  the  enemy  for 
food,  being  destined   to  undergo  perpetual  servitude,   if  they 

1  This  battle  was  fought  between  Hengist  and  Vortimer,  the  eldest  son 
of  Vortigern,  at  Aylesford,  in  Kent. 


72  THE   ANGLES  AND   SAXONS   IN   BRITAIN 

were  not  killed  upon  the  spot.  Some,  with  sorrowful  hearts,  fled 
beyond  the  seas.  Others,  continuing  in  their  own  country,  led 
a  miserable  life  among  the  woods,  rocks,  and  mountains,  with 
scarcely  enough  food  to  support  life,  and  expecting  every  mo- 
ment to  be  their  last.1 

9.  The  Mission  of  Augustine  (697) 

How  or  when  the  Christian  religion  was  first  introduced  into  Britain 
cannot  now  be  ascertained.  As  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century  the  African  church  father  Tertullian  referred  to  the  Britons 
as  «a  Christian  people,  and  in  314  the  British  church  was  recognized 
by  the  Council  of  Aries  as  an  integral  part  of  the  church  universal. 
Throughout  the  period  of  Roman  control  in  the  island  Christianit}' 
continued  to  be  the  dominant  religion.  When,  however,  in  the  fifth 
century  and  after,  the  Saxons  and  Angles  invaded  the  country  and 
the  native  population  was  largely  killed  off  or  driven  westward  (though 
not  so  completely  as  some  books  tell  us),  Christianity  came  to  be  pretty 
much  confined  to  the  Celtic  peoples  of  Ireland  and  Wales.  The  in- 
vaders were  still  pagans  worshiping  the  old  Teutonic  deities  Woden, 
Thor,  Freya,  and  the  rest,  and  though  an  attempt  at  their  conversion 
was  made  by  a  succession  of  Irish  monks,  their  pride  as  conquerors 
seems  to  have  kept  them  from  being  greatly  influenced.  At  any  rate, 
the  conversion  of  the  Angles  and  Saxons  was  a  task  which  called  for 
a  special  evangelistic  movement  from  no  less  a  source  than  the  head 
of  the  Church.  This  movement  was  set  in  operation  by  Pope  Gregory  I. 
(Gregory  the  Great)  near  the  close  of  the  sixth  century.  It  is  reasona  • 
ble  to  suppose  that  the  impulse  came  originally  from  Bertha,  the 
Frankish  queen  of  King  Ethelbert  of  Kent,  who  was  an  ardent  Chris- 
tian and  very  desirous  of  bringing  about  the  conversion  of  her  adopted 
people.  In  596  Augustine  (not  to  be  confused  with  the  celebrated 
bishop  of  Hippo  in  the  fifth  century)  was  sent  by  Pope  Gregory  at  the 
head  of  a  band  of  monks  to  proclaim  the  religion  of  the  cross  to  King 

1  It  is  by  no  means  probable  that  the  invasion  of  Britain  by  the  Saxons  was 
followed  by  such  wholesale  extermination  of  the  natives  as  is  here  represented, 
though  it  is  certain  that  everywhere,  except  in  the  far  west  (Wales)  and 
north  (Scotland),  the  native  population  was  reduced  to  complete  subjection. 


THE  MISSION  OF  AUGUSTINE  73 

Ethelbert,  and  afterwards  to  all  the  Angles  and  Saxons  and  Jutes  in 
the  island.  On  Whitsunday,  June  2,  597,  Ethelbert  renounced  his  old 
gods  and  was  baptized  into  the  Christian  communion.  The  majority 
of  his  people  soon  followed  his  example  and  four  years  later  Augustine 
was  appointed  "Bishop  of  the  English."  After  this  encouraging  be- 
ginning the  Christianizing  of  the  East,  West,  and  South  Saxons  went 
steadily  forward. 


Source — Baeda,  Historic/,  Ecclesiastica  Gentis  Anglorum,  Bk.  L,  Chaps.  23, 
25-26.  Adapted  from  translation  by  J.  A.  Giles  (London,  1847), 
pp.  34-40    passim. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  582,  Maurice,  the  fifty-fourth  from 
Augustus,  ascended  the  throne,1  and  reigned  twenty-one  years. 
In  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  Gregory,  a  man  renowned  for  learn- 
ing and  piety,  was  elected  to  the  apostolical  see  of  Rome,  and 
presided  over  it  thirteen  years,  six  months  and  ten  days.2  He, 
Pope  Greg-  being  moved  by  divine  inspiration,  in  the  four- 
mSsionaries  teenth  year  of  the  same  emperor,  and  about  the 
to  Britain  0ne  hundred  and  fiftieth  after  the  coming  of  the 

English  into  Britain,  sent  the  servant  of  God,  Augustine,3  and 
with  him  several  other  monks  who  feared  the  Lord,  to  preach 
the  word  of  God  to  the  English  nation.  They,  in  obedience  to 
the  Pope's  commands,  having  undertaken  that  work,  were  on 
their  journey  seized  with  a  sudden  fear  and  began  to  think  of 
returning  home,  rather  than  of  proceeding  to  a  barbarous, 
fierce,  and  unbelieving  nation,   to  whose  very  language  they 

They  become      were     stranSers;     and     this     they     unanimously 

frightened  at      agreed  was  the  safest  course.4     In  short,  they 

sent  back  Augustine,  who  had  been  appointed 

to  be  consecrated  bishop  in  case  they  were  received  by  the  Eng- 

1  That  is,  the  throne  of  the  Eastern  Empire  at  Constantinople. 

2  Gregory  was  a  monk  before  he  was  elected  pope.  He  held  the  papal 
office  from  590  to  604  [see  p.  90]. 

3  Augustine  at  the  time  (596)  was  prior  of  a  monastery  dedicated  to  St. 
Andrew  in  Rome. 

4  The  missionaries  had  apparently  gone  as  far  as  Aries  in  southern  Pro- 
vence when  they  reached  this  decision. 


74  THE  ANGLES  AND   SAXONS  IN   BRITAIN 

lish,  that  he  might,  by  humble  entreaty,  obtain  consent  of  the 
holy  Gregory,  that  they  should  not  be  compelled  to  undertake 
so  dangerous,  toilsome,  and  uncertain  a  journey.  The  Pope,  in 
reply,  sent  them  an  encouraging  letter,  persuading  them  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  work  of  the  divine  word,  and  rely  on  the  assistance  of 
the  Almighty.    The  substance  of  this  letter  was  as  follows: 

"  Gregory,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  the  servants 
of  our  Lord.     Forasmuch  as  it  had  been  better  not  to  begin  a 

Gregory's  let-  £00(*  wor^  tnan  to  think  of  abandoning  that 
ter  of  encour-  which  has  been  begun,  it  behooves  you,  my 
beloved  sons,  to  fulfill  the  good  work  which,  by 
the  help  of  our  Lord,  you  have  undertaken.  Let  not,  therefore, 
the  toil  of  the  journey  nor  the  tongues  of  evil-speaking  men  deter 
you.  With  all  possible  earnestness  and  zeal  perform  that  which, 
by  God's  direction,  you  have  undertaken;  being  assured  that 
much  labor  is  followed  by  an  eternal  reward.  When  Augustine, 
your  chief,  returns,  whom  we  also  constitute  your  abbot,1  humbly 
obey  him  in  all  things;  knowing  that  whatsoever  you  shall  do  by 
his  direction  will,  in  all  respects,  be  helpful  to  your  souls.  Al- 
mighty God  protect  you  with  his  grace,  and  grant  that  I,  in  the 
heavenly  country,  may  see  the  fruits  of  your  labor;  inasmuch  as, 
though  I  cannot  labor  with  you,  I  shall  partake  in  the  joy  of  the 
reward,  because  I  am  willing  to  labor.  God  keep  you  in  safety, 
my  most  beloved  sons.  Dated  the  23rd  of  July,  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  our  pious  and  most  august  lord,  Mauritius 
Tiberius,  the  thirteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of  our  said 
lord." 

Augustine,  thus  strengthened  by  the  confirmation  of  the 
blessed  Father  Gregory,  returned  to  the  work  of  the  word  of 
God,  with  the  servants  of  Christ,  and  arrived  in  Britain.  The 
powerful  Ethelbert  was  at  that  time  king  of  Kent.  He  had  ex- 
tended his  dominions  as  far  as  the  great  River  Humber,  by  which 

1  An  abbot  was  the  head  of  a  monastery.  Should  such  an  establishment 
be  set  up  in  Britain,  Augustine  was  to  be  its  presiding  officer. 


THE   MISSION   OF  AUGUSTINE  75 

the  Southern  Saxons  are  divided  from  the  Northern.1  On  the 
east  of  Kent  is  the  large  isle  of  Thanet  containing  according  to 
Augustine  the  English  reckoning  600  families,  divided  from 

panions  arrive  tne  otner  land  by  the  River  Wantsum,  which  is 
in  Kent  about  three  furlongs  over  and  fordable  only  in 

two  places,  for  both  ends  of  it  run  into  the  sea.2  In  this  island 
landed  the  servant  of  our  Lord,  Augustine,  and  his  companions, 
being,  as  is  reported,  nearly  forty  men.  By  order  of  the  blessed 
Pope  Gregory,  they  had  taken  interpreters  of  the  nation  of 
the  Franks,3  and  sending  to  Ethelbert,  signified  that  they  were 
come  from  Rome  and  brought  a  joyful  message,  which  most  un- 
doubtedly assured  to  all  that  took  advantage  of  it  everlasting 
joys  in  heaven  and  a  kingdom  that  would  never  end,  with  the 
living  and  true  God.  The  king,  having  heard  this,  ordered  that 
they  stay  in  that  island  where  they  had  landed,  and  that  they 
be  furnished  with  all  necessaries,  until  he  should  consider  what 
to  do  with  them.  For  he  had  before  heard  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, having  a  Christian  wife  of  the  royal  family  of  the  Franks, 
called  Bertha;4  whom  he  had  received  from  her  parents  upon 
condition  that  she  should  be  permitted  to  practice  her  religion 
with  the  Bishop  Luidhard,  who  was  sent  with  her  to  preserve 
her  faith.5 

Some  days  after,  the  king  came  to  the  island,  and  sitting  in 
the  open  air,  ordered  Augustine  and  his  companions  to  be  brought 

1  The  Germanic  peoples  north  of  the  Humber  were  more  properly  Angles, 
but  of  course  they  were  in  all  essential  respects  like  the  Saxons.  Ethelbert 
was  not  actually  king  in  that  region,  but  was  recognized  as  "bretwalda," 
or  over-lord,  by  the  other  rulers. 

2  For  later  changes  in  this  part  of  the  coast  line,  see  p.  70,  note  1. 

3  This  was  possible  because  the  Franks  and  Saxons,  being  both  German, 
as  yet  spoke  languages  so  much  alike  that  either  people  could  understand 
the  other  without  much  difficulty. 

4  Bertha  was  a  daughter  of  the  Frankish  king  Charibert.  The  Franks 
had  been  nominally  a  Christian  people  since  the  conversion  of  Clovis  in  496 
[see  p.  53] — just  a  hundred  years  before  Augustine  started  on  his  mission 
to  the  Angles  and  Saxons. 

5  Luidhard  had  been  bishop  of  Senlis,  a  town  not  many  miles  northeast  of 
Paris.  Probably  Augustine  and  his  companions  profited  not  a  little  by  the 
influence  which  Luidhard  had  already  exerted  at  the  Kentish  court. 


76  THE  ANGLES  AND  SAXONS   IN   BRITAIN 

into  his  presence.  For  he  had  taken  precaution  that  they  should 
not  come  to  him  in  any  house,  lest,  according  to  an  ancient  super- 
stition, if  they  practised  any  magical  arts,  they  might  impose 
upon  him,  and  so  get  the  better  of  him.  But  they  came  furnished 
with  divine,  not  with  magic  virtue,  bearing  a  silver  cross  for 
their  banner,  and  the  image  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  painted  on  a 
board;  and  singing  the  litany,  they  offered  up  their  prayers  to 
the  Lord  for  the  eternal  salvation  both  of  themselves  and  of 
Augustine  those  to  whom  they  were  come.    When  Augustine 

KingEttLe^  **ad  sat  down,  according  to  the  king's  commands, 
bert  and  preached  to  him  and  his  attendants  there 

present  the  word  of  life,  the  king  answered  thus:  "Your  words 
and  promises  are  very  fair,  but  as  they  are  new  to  us,  and  of 
uncertain  import,  I  cannot  approve  of  them  so  far  as  to  forsake 
that  which  I  have  so  long  followed  with  the  whole  English  nation. 
But  because  you  are  come  from  afar  into  my  kingdom,  and,  as  I 
conceive,  are  desirous  to  impart  to  us  those  things  which  you 
believe  to  be  true  and  most  beneficial,  we  will  not  molest  you, 
but  give  you  favorable  entertainment  and  take  care  to  sup- 
ply you  with  necessary  sustenance;  nor  do  we  forbid  you  to 
preach  and  win  as  many  as  you  can  to  your  religion."  Accord- 
ingly he  permitted  them  to  reside  in  the  city  of  Canterbury, 
which  was  the  metropolis  of  all  his  dominions,  and,  according  to 
his  promise,  besides  allowing  them  sustenance,  did  not  refuse 
them  liberty  to  preach.  It  is  reported  that,  as  they  drew  near 
to  the  city,  after  their  manner,  with  the  holy  cross  and  the  image 
of  our  sovereign  Lord  and  King,  Jesus  Christ,  they  sang  this 
litany  together:  "We  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  in  all  Thy  mercy, 
that  Thy  anger  and  wrath  be  turned  away  from-  this  city,  and 
from  Thy  holy  house,  because  we  have  sinned.    Hallelujah." 

As  soon  as  they  entered  the  dwelling-place  assigned  them, 
they  began  to  imitate  the  course  of  life  practised  in  the  primi- 
tive Church;  applying  themselves  to  frequent  prayer,  watch- 
ing,   and    fasting;    preaching  the  word  of  life   to  as  many  as 


■  THE   MISSION   OF  AUGUSTINE  77 

they  could;  despising  all  worldly  things  as  not  belonging  to  them; 
receiving  only  their  necessary  food  from  those  they  taught ;  living 
...  „  .  themselves  in  all  respects  in  conformity  with 
missionaries  at  what  they  prescribed  for  others,  and  being  always 
an  er  ury  disposed  to  suffer  any  adversity,  and  even  to  die 
for  that  truth  which  they  preached.  In  short,  several  believed 
and  were  baptized,  admiring  the  simplicity  of  their  innocent  life, 
and  the  sweetness  of  their  heavenly  doctrine.  There  was,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  city,  a  church  dedicated  to  the  honor  of  St.  Martin, 
built  whilst  the  Romans  were  still  in  the  island,  wherein  the 
queen,  who,  as  has  been  said  before,  was  a  Christian,  used  to 
pray.1  In  this  they  first  began  to  meet,  to  sing,  to  pray,  to  say 
mass,  to  preach,  and  to  baptize,  until  the  king,  being  converted 
to  the  faith,  allowed  them  to  preach  openly,  and  build  or  repair 
churches  in  all  places. 

When  he,  among  the  rest,  induced  by  the  unspotted  life  of 
these  holy  men,  and  their  pleasing  promises,  which  by  many 
Ethelbert  miracles  they  proved  to  be  most  certain,  believed 

converted  an(j  was  baptized,  greater  numbers  began  daily  to 

flock  together  to  hear  the  word,  and  forsaking  their  heathen  rites, 
to  associate  themselves,  by  believing,  to  the  unity  of  the  church 
of  Christ.  Their  conversion  the  king  encouraged  in  so  far  that 
he  compelled  none  to  embrace  Christianity,  but  only  showed  more 
affection  to  the  believers,  as  to  his  fellow-citizens  in  the  heavenly 
kingdom.  For  he  had  learned  from  his  instructors  and  guides  to 
salvation  that  the  service  of  Christ  ought  to  be  voluntary,  not 
by  compulsion.  Nor  was  it  long  before  he  gave  his  teachers  a  set- 
tled residence  in  his  metropolis  of  Canterbury,  with  such  posses- 
sions of  different  kinds  as  were  necessary  for  their  subsistence.2 

1  "The  present  church  of  St.  Martin  near  Canterbury  is  not  the  old  one 
spoken  of  by  Bede,  as  it  is  generally  thought  to  be,  but  is  a  structure  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  though  it  is  probable  that  the  materials  of  the  original 
church  were  worked  up  in  the  masonry  in  its  reconstruction,  the  walls  being 
still  composed  in  part  of  Roman  bricks. " — J.  A.  Giles,  Bede's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  p.  39. 

2  Thus  was  established  the  "  primacy, "  or  ecclesiastical  leadership,  of 
Canterbury,  which  has  continued  to  this  day. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

10.  Pope  Leo's  Sermon  on  the  Petrine  Supremacy 

In  tracing  the  history  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  institution  known 
as  the  papacy,  the  first  figure  that  stands  out  with  considerable  clear- 
ness is  that  of  Leo  I.,  or  Leo  the  Great,  who  was  elected  bishop  of  Rome 
in  the  year  440.  Leo  is  perhaps  the  first  man  who,  all  things  con- 
sidered, can  be  called  "pope"  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  term,  although 
certain  of  his  predecessors  in  the  bishop's  seat  at  the  imperial  capital  had 
long  claimed  and  exercised  a  peculiar  measure  of  authority  over  their 
fellow  bishops  throughout  the  Empire.  Almost  from  the  earliest  days 
of  Christianity  the  word  papa  (pope)  seems  to  have  been  in  common 
use  as  an  affectionate  mode  of  addressing  any  bishop,  but  after  the 
fourth  century  it  came  to  be  applied  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  and  in  time  this  was  the  only  usage,  so  far  as  western  Europe 
was  concerned,  which  survived.  The  causes  of  the  special  development 
of  the  Roman  bishopric  into  the  powerful  papal  office  were  numerous. 
Rome's  importance  as  a  city,  and  particularly  as  the  political  head 
of  the  Mediterranean  world,  made  it  natural  that  her  bishop  should 
have  something  of  a  special  dignity  and  influence.  Throughout  western 
Europe  the  Roman  church  was  regarded  as  a  model  and  its  bishop  was 
frequently  called  upon  for  counsel  and  advice.  Then,  when  the  seat 
of  the  imperial  government  was  removed  to  the  East  by  Constantine, 
the  Roman  bishop  naturally  took  up  much  of  the  leadership  in  the  West 
which  had  been  exercised  by  the  emperor,  and  this  added  not  a  little  in 
the  way  of  prestige.  On  the  whole  the  Roman  bishops  were  moderate, 
liberal,  and  sensible  in  their  attitude  toward  church  questions,  thereby 
commending  themselves  to  the  practical  peoples  of  the  West  in  a  way 
that  other  bishops  did  not  always  do.  The  growth  of  temporal  posses- 
sions, especially  in  the  way  of  land,  also  made  the  Roman  bishops  more 

78 


POPE   LEO'S  SERMON   ON   THE   PETRINE   SUPREMACY  79 

independent  and  able  to  hold  their  own.  And  the  activity  of  such  men 
as  Leo  the  Great  in  warding  off  the  attacks  of  the  German  barbarians, 
and  in  providing  popular  leadership  in  the  absence  of  such  leader- 
ship on  the  part  of  the  imperial  authorities,  was  a  not  unimportant  item. 

After  all,  however,  these  are  matters  which  have  always  been  re- 
garded by  the  popes  themselves  as  circumstances  of  a  more  or  less 
transitory  and  accidental  character.  It  is  not  upon  any  or  all  of  them 
that  the  papacy  from  first  to  last  has  sought  to  base  its  high  claims 
to  authority.  The  fundamental  explanation,  from  the  papal  stand- 
point, for  the  peculiar  development  of  the  papal  power  in  the  person 
of  the  bishops  of  Rome  is  contained  in  the  so-called  theory  of  the 
"Petrine  Supremacy,"  which  will  be  found  set  forth  in  Pope  Leo's 
sermon  reproduced  in  part  below.  The  essential  points  in  this  theory 
are:  (1)  that  to  the  apostle  Peter,  Christ  committed  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  supremacy  over  all  other  apostles  on  earth; 
(2)  that  Peter,  in  the  course  of  time,  became  the  first  bishop  of  Rome ; 
and  (3)  that  the  superior  authority  given  to  Peter  was  transmitted  to 
all  his  successors  in  the  Roman  bishopric.  It  was  fundamentally  on 
these  grounds  that  the  pope,  to  quote  an  able  Catholic  historian,  was 
believed  to  be  "the  visible  representative  of  ecclesiastical  unity,  the 
supreme  teacher  and  custodian  of  the  faith,  the  supreme  legislator,  the 
guardian  and  interpreter  of  the  canons,  the  legitimate  superior  of  all 
bishops,  the  final  judge  of  councils — an  office  which  he  possessed  in  his 
own  right,  and  which  he  actually  exercised  by  presiding  over  all  ecu- 
menical synods,  through  his  legates,  and  by  confirming  the  acts  of  the 
councils  as  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Universal  Catholic  Church."  1 
Modern  Protestants  discard  certain  of  the  tenets  which  go  to  make  up 
the  Petrine  theory,  but  it  is  essential  that  the  student  of  history  bear 
in  mind  that  the  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  never  doubted  its  com- 
plete and  literal  authenticity,  nor  questioned  that  the  authority  of  the 
papal  office  rested  at  bottom  upon  something  far  more  fundamental  than 
a  mere  fortunate  combination  of  historical  circumstances.  Whatever 
one's  personal  opinions  on  the  issues  involved,  the  point  to  be  insisted 
upon  is  that  in  studying  mediaeval  church  life  and  organization  the  uni- 
versal acceptance  of  these  beliefs  and  conclusions  be  never  lost  to  view. 
» 

1  John  Alzog,  Manual  of  Universal  Church  History  (trans,  by  F.  J.  Pabisch 
and  T.  S.  Byrne),  Cincinnati,  1899,  Vol.  I.,  p.  668. 


80  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

Leo  was  pope  from  440  to  461  and  it  has  been  well  maintained  that  he 
was  the  first  occupant  of  the  office  to  comprehend  the  wide  possibilities 
of  the  papal  dignity  in  the  future.  In  his  sermons  and  letters  he  vig- 
orously asserted  the  sovereign  authority  of  his  position,  and  in  his  in- 
fluence on  the  events  of  his  time,  as  for  example  the  Council  of  Chalce- 
don  in  451,  he  sought  with  no  little  success  to  bring  men  to  a  general 
acknowledgment  of  this  authority. 

Source — Text  in  Jacques  Paul  Migne,  Patrologice  Cursus  Completus  ["Com- 
plete Collection  of  Patristic  Literature"],  First  Series,  Vol.  LIV., 
cols.  144-148.  Translated  in  Philip  Schaff  and  Henry  Wace, 
Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers  of  the  Christian 
Church  (New  York,  1895),  Second  Series,  Vol.  XII.,  pp.  117-118. 

Although,  therefore,  dearly  beloved,  we  be  found  both  weak 
and  slothful  in  fulfilling  the  duties  of  our  office,  because,  whatever 
devoted  and  vigorous  action  we  desire  to  undertake,  we  are 
hindered  in  by  the  frailty  of  our  nature,  yet  having  the  unceasing 
propitiation  of  the  Almighty  and  perpetual  Priest  [Christ],  who 
being  like  us  .and  yet  equal  with  the  Father,  brought  down  His 
Godhead  even  to  things  human,  and  raised  His  Manhood  even 
to  things  Divine,  we  worthily  and  piously  rejoice  over  His  dis- 
pensation, whereby,  though  He  has  delegated  the  care  of  His 
sheep  to  many  shepherds,  yet  He  has  not  Himself  abandoned 
the  guardianship  of  His  beloved  flock.  And  from  His  overruling 
.  and    eternal    protection  we    have    received    the 

Peter  still  with  support  of  the  Apostle's  aid  also,  which  assuredly 

s      urc  does  not  cease  from  its  operation;  and  the  strength 

of  the  foundation,  on  which  the  whole  superstructure  of  the 
Church  is  reared,  is  not  weakened  by  the  weight  of  the  temple 
that  rests  upon  it.  For  the  solidity  of  that  faith  which  was 
praised  in  the  chief  of  the  Apostles  is  perpetual;  and  as  that 
remains  which  Peter  believed  in  Christ,  so  that  remains  which 
Christ  instituted  in  Peter. 

For  when,  as  has  been  read  in  the  Gospel  lesson,1  the  Lord 
had  asked  the  disciples  whom  they  believed  Him  to  be  amid  the 

t  That  is,  the  passage  of  Scripture  read  just  before  the  sermon. 


POPE   LEO'S  SERMON   ON  THE   PETRINE   SUPREMACY  81 

various  opinions  that  were  held,  and  the  blessed  Peter  had  re- 
plied, saying,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God," 

n,  .a,.    „ the  Lord  said,  "  Blessed  art   thou,  Simon  Bar- 

Cnnst  s  com-  '  ' 

mission  to  Jona,  because  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed 

Peter 

it  to  thee,  but  My  Father,  which  is  in  heaven. 

And  I  say  to  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  will  I 

build  My  church,  and  the  gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail  against 

it.    And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

And  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  in 

heaven;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  shall  be 

loosed  also  in  heaven."    [Matt.  xvi.  16-19.] 

The  dispensation  of  Truth  therefore  abides,  and  the  blessed 

Peter  persevering  in  the  strength  of  the  Rock,  which  he  has 

received,  has  not  abandoned  the  helm  of  the  Church,  which  he 

undertook.    For  he  was  ordained  before  the  rest  in  such  a  way 

that  from  his  being  called  the  Rock,  from  his  being  pronounced 

the  Foundation,  from  his  being  constituted  the  Doorkeeper  of 

the  kingdom  of  heaven,  from  his  being  set  as  the  Umpire  to  bind 

and  to  loose,  whose  judgments  shall  retain  their  validity  in 

Peter  proper-     heaven — from  all  these  mystical  titles  we  might 

ly  rules  the         know  the  nature  of  his  association  with  Christ. 
Church  through  .,.«,-,  -  „  ,      „  „ 

his  successors     And  still  to-day  he  more  fully  and  effectually 

at  Rome  performs  what  is  intrusted  to  him,  and    carries 

out  every  part  of  his  duty  and  charge  in  Him  and  with  Him, 

through  whom  he  has  been  glorified.      And  so  if  anything  is 

rightly  done  and  rightly  decreed  by  us,  if  anything  is  won  from 

the  mercy  of  God  by  our  daily  supplications,  it  is  of  his  work  and 

merits  whose  power  lives  and  whose  authority  prevails  in  his 

see.1     .     .     . 

And  so,  dearly  beloved,  with  becoming  obedience  we  celebrate 

to-day's  festival 2  by  such  methods,  that  in  my  humble  person  he 

i"See"  is  a  term  employed  to  designate  a  bishop's  jurisdiction.  Ac- 
cording to  common  belief  Peter  had  been  bishop  of  Rome;  his  see  was 
therefore  that  which  Leo  now  held. 

2  The  anniversary  of  Leo's  elevation  to  the  papal  office. 

Med.  Hist.— 6 


82  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

may  be  recognized  and  honored,  in  whom  abides  the  care  of  all 

the  shepherds,  together  with  the  charge  of  the  sheep  commended 

to  him,  and  whose  dignity  is  not  belittled  even  in  so  unworthy  an 

Leo  claims  to     heir.     And  hence  the  presence  of  my  venerable 

be  only  Peter's  brothers  and  fellow-priests,  so  much  desired  and 
representative 

valued   by   me,   will   be   the   more   sacred   and 

precious,  if  they  will  transfer  the  chief  honor  of  this  service  in 
which  they  have  deigned  to  take  part  to  him  whom  they  know 
to  be  not  only  the  patron  of  this  see,  but  also  the  primate  of  all 
bishops.  When  therefore  we  utter  our  exhortations  in  your  ears, 
holy  brethren,  believe  that  he  is  speaking  whose  representative 
we  are.  Because  it  is  his  warning  that  we  give,  and  nothing  else 
but  his  teaching  that  we  preach,  beseeching  you  to  "gird  up  the 
loins  of  your  mind,"  and  lead  a  chaste  and  sober  life  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  not  to  let  your  mind  forget  his  supremacy  and  consent 
to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh. 

Short  and  fleeting  are  the  joys  of  this  world's  pleasures  which 
endeavor  to  turn  aside  from  the  path  of  life  those  who  are  called 
to  eternity.  The  faithful  and  religious  spirit,  therefore,  must 
desire  the  things  which  are  heavenly  and,  being  eager  for  the 
a  h  t  f  divine  promises,  lift  itself  to  the  love  of  the  in- 
to Christian  corruptible  Good  and  the  hope  of  the  true  Light. 
But  be  assured,  dearly-beloved,  that  your  labor, 
whereby  you  resist  vices  and  fight  against  carnal  desires,  is 
pleasing  and  precious  in  God's  sight,  and  in  God's  mercy  will 
profit  not  only  yourselves  but  me  also,  because  the  zealous 
pastor  makes  his  boast  of  the  progress  of  the  Lord's  flock.  "For 
ye  are  my  crown  and  joy,"  as  the  Apostle  says,  if  your  faith, 
which  from  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  in  all 
The  peculiar       the  world,  has  continued  in  love  and  holiness. 

Se  chSr6chf»t  For  thouSh  the  whole  Church>  which  is  in  a11 
Rome  the  world,  ought  to  abound  in  all  virtues,  yet  you 

especially,  above  all  people,  it  becomes  to  excel  in  deeds  of  piety, 

because,  founded  as  you  are  on  the  very  citadel  of  the  Apostolic 


THE   RULE   OF   ST.    BENEDICT  83 

Rock,  not  only  has  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  redeemed  you  in  com- 
mon with  all  men,  but  the  blessed  Apostle  Peter  has  instructed 
you  far  beyond  all  men. 

11.  The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict 

A  very  important  feature  of  the  church  life  of  the  early  Middle  Ages 
was  the  tendency  of  devout  men  to  withdraw  from  the  active  affairs 
of  the  world  and  give  themselves  up  to  careers  of  self-sacrificing  piety. 
Sometimes  such  men  went  out  to  live  alone  in  forests  or  other  obscure 
places  and  for  this  reason  were  called  anchorites  or  hermits;  but  more 
often  they  settled  in  groups  and  formed  what  came  to  be  known  as 
monasteries.  The  idea  that  seclusion  is  helpful  to  the  religious  life  was 
not  peculiar  to  Christianity,  for  from  very  early  times  Brahmins  and 
Buddhists  and  other  peoples  of  the  Orient  had  cherished  the  same 
view;  and  in  many  cases  they  do  so  still.  Monasticism  among  Christians 
began  naturally  in  the  East  and  at  first  took  the  form  almost  wholly 
of  hermitage,  just  as  it  had  done  among  the  adherents  of  other  Oriental 
religions,  though  by  the  fourth  century  the  Christian  monks  of  Syria 
and  Egypt  and  Asia  Minor  had  come  in  many  cases  to  dwell  in  estab- 
lished communities.  In  general  the  Eastern  monks  were  prone  to  ex- 
tremes in  the  way  of  penance  and  self-torture  which  the  more  practical 
peoples  of  the  West  were  not  greatly  disposed  to  imitate.  Monasticism 
spread  into  the  West,  but  not  until  comparatively  late — beginning  in 
the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century — and  the  character  which  it  there 
assumed  was  quite  unlike  that  prevailing  in  the  East.  The  Eastern  ideal 
was  the  life  of  meditation  with  as  little  activity  as  possible,  except  per- 
haps such  as  was  necessary  in  order  to  impose  hardships  upon  one's  self. 
The  Western  ideal,  on  the  other  hand,  while  involving  a  good  deal  of 
meditation  and  prayer,  put  much  emphasis  on  labor  and  did  not  call 
for  so  complete  an  abstention  of  the  monk  from  the  pursuits  and  pleas- 
ures of  other  men. 

In  the  later  fifth  century,  and  earlier  sixth,  several  monasteries  of 
whose  history  we  know  little  were  established  in  southern  Gaul,  es- 
pecially in  the  pleasant  valley  of  the  Rhone.  Earliest  of  all,  apparently, 
and  destined  to  become  the  most  influential  was  the  abbey  of  St.  Martin 
at  Tours,  founded  soon  after  St.  Martin  was  made  bishop  of  Tours  in  372. 


84  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

But  the  development  of  Western  monasticism  is  associated  most  of  all 
with  the  work  of  St.  Benedict  of  Nursia,  who  died  in  543.  Benedict  was 
the  founder  of  several  monasteries  in  the  vicinity  of  Rome,  the  most  im- 
portant being  that  of  Monte  Cassino,  on  the  road  from  Rome  to  Naples, 
which  exists  to  this  day.  One  should  guard,  however,  against  the  mis- 
take of  looking  upon  St.  Benedict  as  the  introducer  of  monasticism  in  the 
West,  of  even  as  the  founder  of  a  new  monastic  order  in  the  strict  sense  of 
the  word.  The  great  service  which  he  rendered  to  European  monasticism 
consisted  in  his  working  out  for  his  monasteries  in  Italy  an  elaborate 
system  of  government  which  was  found  so  successful  in  practice  that, 
in  the  form  of  the  Benedictine  Rule  (regula),  it  came  to  be  the  constitu- 
tion under  which  for  many  centuries  practically  all  the  monks  of  West- 
ern countries  lived.  That  it  was  so  widely  adopted  was  due  mainly 
to  its  definite,  practical,  common-sense  character.  Its  chief  injunctions 
upon  the  monks  were  poverty,  chastity,  obedience,  piety,  and  labor. 
All  these  were  to  be  attained  by  methods  which,  although  they  may 
seem  strange  to  us  to-day,  were  at  least  natural  and  wholesome  when 
judged  by  the  ideas  and  standards  prevailing  in  early  mediaeval  times. 
Granted  the  ascetic  principle  upon  which  the  monastic  system  rested, 
the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  must  be  regarded  as  eminently  moderate  and 
sensible.  It  sprang  from  an  acute  perception  of  human  nature  and 
human  needs  no  less  than  from  a  lofty  ideal  of  religious  perfection. 
The  following  extracts  will  serve  to  show  its  character. 

Source — Text  in  Jacques  Paul  Migne,  Patrologice  Cursus  Completus,  First 
Series,  Vol.  LXVI.,  cols.  245-932  passim.  Adapted  from  transla- 
tion in  Ernest  F.  Henderson,  Select  Historical  Documents  of  the 
Middle  Ages  (London,  1896),  pp.  274-314. 

Prologue.  .  .  .  We  are  about  to  found,  therefore,  a  school 
for  the  Lord's  service,  in  the  organization  of  which  we  trust  that 
we  shall  ordain  nothing  severe  and  nothing  burdensome.  But 
even  if,  the  demands  of  justice  dictating  it,  something  a  trifle 
irksome  shall  be  the  result,  for  the  purpose  of  amending  vices  or 
preserving  charity,  thou  shalt  not  therefore,  struck  by  fear,  flee 
the  way  of  salvation,  which  cannot  be  entered  upon  except 
through  a  narrow  entrance. 

2.    What  the  abbot  should  be  like.     An  abbot  who  is  worthy  to 


THE   RULE    OF   ST.    BENEDICT  85 

preside  over  a  monastery  ought  always  to  remember  what  he  is 
called,  and  carry  out  with  his  deeds  the  name  of  a  Superior. 
For  he  is  believed  to  be  Christ's  representative,  since  he  is  called 
by  His  name,  the  apostle  saying:  "Ye  have  received  the  spirit  of 
adoption  of  sons,  whereby  we  call  Abba,  Father  "  [Romans  viii. 
15].  And  so  the  abbot  should  not  (grant  that  he  may  not)  teach, 
or  decree,  or  order,  anything  apart  from  the  precept  of  the  Lord ; 
but  his  order  or  teaching  should  be  characterized  by  the  marks 
of  divine  justice  in  the  minds  of  his  disciples.  Let  the  abbot 
Responsibility  always  be  mindful  that,  at  the  terrible  judgment 
of  the  abbot  0f  q0(j?  k0th  things  will  be  weighed  in  the  balance, 
acter  and  deeds  his  teaching  and  the  obedience  of  his  disciples. 
o  t  e  mon  s  ^n(j  ^  ^e  aDbot  know  that  whatever  of  useless- 
ness  the  father  of  the  family  finds  among  the  sheep  is  laid  to 
the  fault  of  the  shepherd.  Only  in  a  case  where  the  whole  dili- 
gence of  their  pastor  shall  have  been  bestowed  on  an  unruly  and 
disobedient  flock,  and  his  whole  care  given  to  their  wrongful 
actions,  shall  that  pastor,  absolved  in  the  judgment  of  the  Lord, 
be  free  to  say  to  the  Lord  with  the  prophet:  " I  have  not  hid  Thy 
righteousness  within  my  heart;  I  have  declared  Thy  faithfulness 
and  Thy  salvation,  but  they,  despising,  have  scorned  me  "  [Psalms 
xl.  10].  And  then  let  the  punishment  for  the  disobedient 
sheep  under  his  care  be  that  death  itself  shall  prevail  against 
He  must  teach  them.  Therefore,  when  any  one  receives  the  name 
well  as^y  pre-  °^  aDb°t>  he  ought  to  rule  over  his  disciples  with 
c©Pt  a  double  teaching;  that  is,  let  him  show  forth  all 

good  and  holy  things  by  deeds  more  than  by  words.  So  that  to 
ready  disciples  he  may  set  forth  the  commands  of  God  in  words; 
but  to  the  hard-hearted  and  the  more  simple-minded,  he  may 
show  forth  the  divine  precepts  by  his  deeds. 

He  shall  make  no  distinction  of  persons  in  the  monastery. 
One  shall  not  be  more  cherished  than  another,  unless  it  be  the 
one  whom  he  finds  excelling  in  good  works  or  in  obedience.  A 
free-born  man  shall  not  be  preferred  to  one  coming  from  servi- 


86  THE    DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

/ 


tude,  unless  there  be  some  other  reasonable  cause.  But  if,  by 
I  the  demand  of  justice,  it  seems  good  to  the  abbot,  he  shall  do 
this,  no  matter  what  the  rank  shall  be.  But  otherwise  they  shall 
keep  their  own  places.  For  whether  we  be  bond  or  free,  we  are  all 
His  duty  to  en-  one  in  Christ;  and,  under  one  God,  we  perform  an 
monfsh^and^to  eclual  service  of  subjection.  For  God  is  no  re- 
punish  specter  of  persons.  Only  in  this  way  is  a  dis- 
tinction made  by  Him  concerning  us,  if  we  are  found  humble 
and  surpassing  others  in  good  works.  Therefore  let  him  [the 
abbot]  have  equal  charity  for  all.  Let  the  same  discipline  be 
administered  in  all  cases  according  to  merit.  ...  He 
should,  that  is,  rebuke  more  severely  the  unruly  and  the  turbu- 
lent. The  obedient,  moreover,  and  the  gentle  and  the  patient, 
he  should  exhort,  that  they  may  progress  to  higher  things. 
But  the  negligent  and  scorners,  we  warn  him  to  admonish  and 
reprove.  Nor  let  him  conceal  the  sins  of  the  erring;  but,  in  order 
that  he  may  prevail,  let  him  pluck  them  out  by  the  roots  as  soon 
as  they  begin  to  spring  up. 

And  let  him  know  what  a  difficult  and  arduous  thing  he  has 
undertaken — to  rule  the  souls  and  uplift  the  morals  of  many. 
And  in  one  case  indeed  with  blandishments,  in  another  with  re- 
bukes, in  another  with  persuasion — according  to  the  quality 
or  intelligence  of  each  one — he  shall  so  conform  and  adapt 
himself  to  all  that  not  only  shall  he  not  allow  injury  to  come  to 
the  flock  committed  to  him,  but  he  shall  rejoice  in  the  increase 
of  a  good  flock.  Above  all  things,  let  him  not,  deceiving  himself 
or  undervaluing  the  safety  of  the  souls  committed  to  him,  give 
more  heed  to  temporary  and  earthly  and  passing  things;  but  let 
him  always  reflect  that  he  has  undertaken  to  rule  souls  for  which 
he  is  to  render  account. 

3.  About  calling  in  the  brethren  to  take  counsel.  Whenever 
anything  of  importance  is  to  be  done  in  the  monastery,  the  abbot 
shall  call  together  the  whole  congregation,1  and  shall  himself 
1  That  is,  the  body  of  monks  residing  in  the  monastery. 


THE   RULE   OF   ST.    BENEDICT  87 

explain  the  matter  in  question.  And,  having  heard  the  advice 
of  the  brethren,  he  shall  think  it  over  by  himself,  and  shall  do 
The  monks  to  wna^  ne  considers  most  advantageous.  And  for 
be  consulted  this  reason,  moreover,  we  have  said  that  all 
ought  to  be  called  to  take  counsel,  because  often 
it  is  to  a  younger  person  that  God  reveals  what  is  best.  The 
brethren,  moreover,  with  all  subjection  of  humility,  ought  so  to 
give  their  advice  that  they  do  not  presume  boldly  to  defend 
what  seems  good  to  them;  but  it  should  rather  depend  on  the 
judgment  of  the  abbot,  so  that,  whatever  he  decides  to  be  best, 
they  should  all  agree  to  it.  But  even  as  it  behooves  the  disci- 
ples to  obey  the  master,  so  it  is  fitting  that  he  should  arrange 
all  matters  with  care  and  justice.  In  all  things,  indeed,  let 
The  Rule  to  be  every  one  follow  the  Rule  as  his  guide;  and  let 
every  one  as  a  no  one  rasn^y  deviate  from  it.  Let  no  one 
guide  in    the   monastery  follow  the  inclination  of    his 

own  heart.  And  let  no  one  boldly  presume  to  dispute  with 
his  abbot,  within  or  without  the  monastery.  But,  if  he 
should  so  presume,  let  him  be  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the 
Rule. 

33.  Whether  the  monks  should  have  anything  of  their  own. 
More  than  anything  else  is  this  special  vice  to  be  cut  off  root  and 
No  property  to  branch  from  the  monastery,  that  one  should  pre- 

the0monks  in-  sume  to  &ive  or  receive  anything  without  the 
dividually  order  of  the  abbot,  or  should  have  anything  of 

his  own.  He  should  have  absolutely  not  anything,  neither  a 
book,  nor  tablets,  nor  a  pen — nothing  at  all.  For  indeed  it  is 
not  allowed  to  the  monks  to  have  their  own  bodies  or  wills  in 
their  own  power.  But  all  things  necessary  they  must  expect 
from  the  Father  of  the  monastery;  nor  is  it  allowable  to  have 
anything  which  the  abbot  has  not  given  or  permitted.  All 
things  shall  be  held  in  common;  as  it  is  written,  "Let  not  any 
man  presume  to  call  anything  his  own."  But  if  any  one  shall 
have  been  discovered  delighting  in  this  most  evil  vice,  being 


88  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

warned  once  and  again,  if  he  do  not  amend,  let  him  be  subjected 

to  punishment.1 

48.    Concerning  the  daily  manual  labor.    Idleness  is  the  enemy 

of  the  soul.2    And  therefore,  at  fixed  times,  the  brothers  ought 

to  be  occupied  in  manual  labor;  and  again,  at  fixed  times,  in 

sacred  reading.3    Therefore  we  believe  that  both  seasons  ought 

to  be  arranged  after  this  manner, — so  that,  from  Easter  until  the 

Calends  of  October,4  going  out  early,  from  the  first  until  the 

fourth  hour  they  shall  do  what  labor  may  be  necessary.    From 

•*  «       ^  j  i     the  fourth  hour  until  about  the  sixth,  they  shall 
Daily  schedule  '        J 

for  the  summer  be  free  for  reading.  After  the  meal  of  the  sixth 
hour,  rising  from  the  table,  they  shall  rest  in  their 
beds  with  all  silence;  or,  perchance,  he  that  wishes  to  read  may 
read  to  himself  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  disturb  another.  And 
the  nona  [the  second  meal]  shall  be  gone  through  with  more 
moderately  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  hour;. and  again  they 
shall  work  at  what  is  to  be  done  until  Vespers.5  But,  if  the  emer- 
gency or  poverty  of  the  place  demands  that  they  be  occupied  in 
picking  fruits,  they  shall  not  be  grieved;  for  they  are  truly  monks 
if  they  live  by  the  labors  of  their  hands,  as  did  also  our  fathers 
and  the  apostles.  Let  all  things  be  done  with  moderation,  how- 
ever, on  account  of  the  faint-hearted. 

In  days  of  Lent  they  shall  all  receive  separate  books  from  the 
library,  which  they  shall  read  entirely  through  in  order.    These 

1  The  vow  of  poverty  which  must  be  taken  by  every  Benedictine  monk 
meant  only  that  he  must  not  acquire  property  individually.  By  gifts  of  land 
and  by  their  own  labor  the  monks  became  in  many  cases  immensely  rich, 
but  their  wealth  was  required  to  be  held  in  common.  No  one  man  could 
rightfully  call  any  part  of  it  his  own. 

2  The  converse  of  this  principle  was  often  affirmed  by  Benedictines  in  the 
saying,  "To  work  is  to  pray." 

a  The  Bible  and  the  writings  of  such  Church  fathers  as  Lactantius,  Ter- 
tullian,  Origen,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Chrysostom,  Eusebius,  and  St.  Jerome. 

*  The  first  day  of  the  month. 

5  Thus  the  ordinary  daily  programme  during  the  spring  and  summer 
months  would  be:  from  six  o'clock  until  ten,  manual  labor;  from  ten  until 
twelve,  reading;  at  twelve,  the  midday  meal;  after  this  meal  until  the 
second  one  about  half  past  two,  rest  and  reading;  and  from  the  second  meal 
until  evening,  labor.    Manual  labor  was  principally  agricultural. 


THE   RULE   OF   ST.    BENEDICT  89 

books  are  to  be  given  out  on  the  first  day  of  Lent.  Above  all 
there  shall  be  appointed  without  fail  one  or  two  elders,  who  shall 
Reading  dur-  go  round  the  monastery  at  the  hours  in  which  the 
ing  Lent  brothers  are  engaged  in  reading,  and  see  to  it  that 

no  troublesome  brother  be  found  who  is  given  to  idleness  and 
trifling,  and  is  not  intent  on  his  reading,  being  not  only  of  no  use 
to  himself,  but  also  stirring  up  others.  If  such  a  one  (may  it  not 
happen)  be  found,  he  shall  be  reproved  once  and  a  second  time. 
If  he  do  not  amend,  he  shall  be  subject  under  the  Rule  to  such 
punishment  that  the  others  may  have  fear.  Nor  shall  brother 
join  brother  at  unsuitable  hours.  Moreover,  on  Sunday  all  shall 
engage  in  reading,  excepting  those  who  are  assigned  to  various 
duties.  But  if  any  one  be  so  negligent  and  lazy  that  he  will  not 
or  can  not  read,  some  task  shall  be  imposed  upon  him  which  he 
can  do,  so  that  he  be  not  idle.  On  feeble  or  delicate  brothers 
such  a  task  or  art  is  to  be  imposed,  that  they  shall  neither  be  idle 
nor  so  oppressed  by  the  violence  of  labor  as  to  be  driven  to  take 
flight.  Their  weakness  is  to  be  taken  into  consideration  by  the 
abbot. 

53.  Concerning  the  reception  of  guests.     All  guests  who  come 

shall  be  received  as  though  they  were  Christ.     For  He  Himself 

Hospitality  sa-id,  "  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in"  [Matt, 
enjoined  xxv     35]        And    to    all    fitting    honor  shall    be 

shown;  but,  most  of  all,  to  servants  of  the  faith  and  to  pilgrims. 
When,  therefore,  a  guest  is  announced,  the  prior  or  the  brothers 
shall  run  to  meet  him,  with  every  token  of  love.  And  first  they 
shall  pray  together,  and  thus  they  shall  be  joined  together  in 
peace. 

54.  Whether  a  monk  should  be  allowed  to  receive  letters  or  any- 
thing. By  no  means  shall  it  be  allowed  to  a  monk — either  from 
his  relatives,  or  from  any  man,  or  from  one  of  his  fellows — to 
receive  or  to  give,  without  order  of  the  abbot,  letters,  presents,  or 
any  gift,  however  small.  But  even  if,  by  his  relatives,  anything 
has  been  sent  to  him,  he  shall  not  presume  to  receive  it,  unless 


90  THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

it  has  first  been  shown  to  the  abbot.  But  if  the  latter  order 
it  to  be  received,  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  the  abbot  to  give  it 
Power  of  abbot  to  whomsoever  he  wishes.  And  the  brother  to 
artkfesTsent  to  wnom  **  happened  to  have  been  sent  shall  not 
the  monks  be  displeased;  that  an  opportunity  be  not  given 

to  the  devil.  Whoever,  moreover,  presumes  to  do  otherwise 
shall  be  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  Rule. 

12.   Gregory  the  Great  on  the  Life  of  the  Pastor 

Gregory  the  Great,  whose  papacy  extended  from  590  to  604,  was  a 
Roman  of  noble  and  wealthy  family,  and  in  many  ways  the  ablest  man 
who  had  yet  risen  to  the  papal  office.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  not  re- 
corded, but  it  was  probably  about  540,  some  ten  years  after  St.  Benedict 
of  Nursia  had  established  his  monastery  at  Monte  Cassino.  He  was 
therefore  a  contemporary  of  the  historian  Gregory  of  Tours  [see  p.  47]. 
The  education  which  he  received  was  that  which  was  usual  with  young 
Romans  of  his  rank  in  life,  and  it  is  said  that  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  logic, 
and  law  he  became  well  versed,  though  without  any  claim  to  unusual 
scholarship.  He  entered  public  life  and  in  570.  was  made  praetor  of  the 
city  of  Rome.  All  the  time,  however,  he  was  struggling  with  the  strange 
attractiveness  which  the  life  of  the  monk  had  for  him,  and  in  the  end, 
upon  the  death  of  his  father,  he  decided  to  forego  the  career  to  which  his 
wealth  and  rank  entitled  him  and  to  seek  the  development  of  his  higher 
nature  in  seclusion.  With  the  money  obtained  from  the  sale  of  his  great 
estates  he  established  six  monasteries  in  Sicily  and  that  of  St.  Andrew 
at  Rome.  In  Gregory's  case,  however,  retirement  to  monastic  life  did 
not  mean  oblivion,  for  soon  he  was  selected  by  Pope  Pelagius  II.,  as 
resident  minister  (apocrisiarius)  at  Constantinople  and  in  this  impor- 
tant position  he  was  maintained  for  five  or  six  years.  After  returning 
to  Rome  he  became  abbot  of  St.  Andrews,  and  in  590,  as  the  records 
say,  he  was  " demanded"  as  pope. 

Gregory  was  a  man  of  very  unusual  ability  and  the  force  of  his  strong 
personality  made  his  reign  one  of  the  great  formative  epochs  in  papal 
history.  Besides  his  activity  in  relation  to  the  affairs  of  the  world  in 
general,  he  has  the  distinction  of  being  a  literary  pope.  His  letters 
and  treatises  were  numerous  and  possessed  a  quality  of  thought  and 


GREGORY  THE   GREAT  ON   THE   LIFE   OF  THE   PASTOR       91 

style  which  was  exceedingly  rare  in  his  day.  The  most  famous  of  his 
writings,  and  justly  so,  is  the  Liber  Regulw  Pastor alis,  known  commonly 
to  English  readers  as  the  "Pastoral  Care,"  or  the  "Pastoral  Rule." 
This  book  was  written  soon  after  its  author  became  pope  (590)  and  was 
addressed  to  John,  bishop  of  Ravenna,  in  reply  to  inquiries  received 
from  him  respecting  the  duties  and  obligations  of  the  clergy.  Though 
thus  put  into  form  for  a  special  purpose,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  was  the  product  of  long  thought,  and  in  fact  in  his  Magna  Moralia, 
or  "Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Job,"  written  during  his  residence  at 
Constantinople,  Gregory  declared  his  purpose  some  day  to  write  just 
such  a  book.  Everywhere  throughout  Europe  the  work  was  received 
with  the  favor  it  deserved,  and  in  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Italy  its  influence 
upon  the  life  and  manners  of  the  clergy  was  beyond  estimate.  Even 
in  Britain,  after  King  Alfred's  paraphrase  of  it  in  the  Saxon  tongue 
had  been  made,  three  hundred  years  later  [see  p.  193],  it  was  a  real 
power  for  good.  The  permanent  value  of  Gregory's  instructions  re- 
garding the  life  of  the  clergy  arose  not  only  from  the  lofty  spirit  in 
which  they  were  conceived  and  the  clear-cut  manner  in  which  they 
were  expressed,  but  from  their  breadth  and  adaptation  to  all  times  and 
places.  There  are  few  books  which  the  modern  pastor  can  read  with 
greater  profit.  The  work  is  in  four  parts:  (1)  on  the  selection  of  men 
for  the  work  of  the  Church;  (2)  on  the  sort  of  life  the  pastor  ought  to 
live;  (3)  on  the  best  methods  of  dealing  with  the  various  types  of  people 
which  every  pastor  will  be  likely  to  encounter ;  and  (4)  on  the  necessity 
that  the  pastor  guard  himself  against  egotism  and  personal  ambition. 
The  passages  below  are  taken  from  the  second  and  third  parts. 

Source — Gregorius  Magnus,  Liber  Regulce  Pastoralis  [Gregory  the  Great, 
"The  Book  of  the  Pastoral  Rule"].  Text  in  Jacques  Paul  Migne, 
Patrologice  Cursus  Completus,  First  Series,  Vol.  LXXVIL,  cols. 
12-127  passim.  Adapted  from  translation  in  Philip  Schaff  and 
Henry  Wace,  Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers  of 
the  Christian  Church  (New  York,  1895),  Second  Series,  Vol.  XII., 
pp.  9-71  passim. 

The  conduct  of  a  prelate *  ought  so  far  to  be  superior  to  the 

conduct  of  the  people  as  the  life  of  a  shepherd  is  accustomed  to 

exalt  him  above  the  flock.    For  one  whose  position  is  such  that 

i  Gregory's  remarks  and  instructions  in  the  Pastoral  Rule  were  intended 
to  apply  primarily  to  the  local  priests — the  humble  pastors  of  whom  we  hear 


92  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

the  people  are  called  his  flock  ought  anxiously  to  consider  how 
great  a  necessity  is  laid  upon  him  to  maintain  uprightness.  It 
The  qualities  is  necessary,  then,  that  in  thought  he  should  be 
be  unitebf  in  °  Pure>  m  action  firm;  discreet  in  keeping  silence, 
the  pastor  profitable  in  speech;  a  near  neighbor  to  every  one 

in  sympathy,  exalted  above  all  in  contemplation;  a  familiar  friend 
of  good  livers  through  humility,  unbending  against  the  vices  of 
evil-doers  through  zeal  for  righteousness;  not  relaxing  in  his  care 
for  what  is  inward  by  reason  of  being  occupied  in  outward  things, 
nor  neglecting  to  provide  for  outward  things  in  his  anxiety  for 
what  is  inward. 

The  ruler  should  always  be  pure  in  thought,  inasmuch  as  no 
impurity  ought  to  pollute  him  who  has  undertaken  the  office 
Purity  of  heart  of  wiping  away  the  stains  of  pollution  in  the 
essential  hearts  of  others  also;  for  the  hand  that  would 

cleanse  from  dirt  must  needs  be  clean,  lest,  being  itself  sordid 
with  clinging  mire,  it  soil  all  the  more  whatever  it  touches. 

The  ruler  should  always  be  a  leader  in  action,  that  by  his  living 
he  may  point  out  the  way  of  life  to  those  who  are  put  under  him, 
He  must  teach  and  that  the  flock,  which  follows  the  voice  and 
by  example  manners  of  the  shepherd,  may  learn  how  to  walk 
rather  through  example  than  through  words.  For  he  who  is 
required  by  the  necessity  of  his  position  to  speak  the  highest 
things  is  compelled  by  the  same  necessity  to  do  the  highest 
things.  For  that  voice  more  readily  penetrates  the  hearer's 
heart,  which  the  speaker's  life  commends,  since  what  he  com- 
mands by  speaking  he  helps  the  doing  by  showing. 

The  ruler  should  be  discreet  in  keeping  silence,  profitable  in 
speech;  lest  he  either  utter  what  ought  to  be  suppressed  or  sup- 
press what  he  ought  to  utter.  For,  as  incautious  speaking  leads 
into  error,  so  indiscreet  silence  leaves  in  error  those  who  might 
have  been  instructed. 

little,  but  upon  whose  piety  and  diligence  ultimately  depended  the  whole 
influence  of  the  Church  upon  the  masses  of  the  people.  The  general  princi- 
ples laid  down,  however,  were  applicable  to  all  the  clergy,  of  whatever  rank. 


GREGORY  THE   GREAT  ON   THE   LIFE   OF   THE   PASTOR        93 

The  ruler  ought  also  to  understand  how  commonly  vices  pass 
themselves  off  as  virtues.  For  often  niggardliness  excuses  itself 
under  the  name  of  frugality,  and  on  the  other  hand  extravagance 
conceals  itself  under  the  name  of  liberality.  Often  inordinate 
carelessness  is  believed  to  be  loving-kindness,  and  unbridled 
wrath  is  accounted  the  virtue  of  spiritual  zeal.  Often  hasty 
action  is  taken  for  promptness,  and  tardiness  for  the  deliberation 
He  must  be  of  seriousness.  Whence  it  is  necessary  for  the 
guish  virtues  ru^er  °*  sou^s  to  distinguish  with  vigilant  care 
and  vices  between  virtues    and  vices,  lest   stinginess   get 

possession  of  his  heart  while  he  exults  in  seeming  frugality  in 
expenditure;  or,  while  anything  is  recklessly  wasted,  he  glory  in 
being,  as  it  were,  compassionately  liberal;  or,  in  overlooking  what 
he  ought  to  have  smitten,  he  draw  on  those  that  are  under  him 
to  eternal  punishment ;  or,  in  mercilessly  smiting  an  offense,  he 
himself  offend  more  grievously;  or,  by  rashly  anticipating,  mar 
what  might  have  been  done  properly  and  gravely;  or,  by  putting 
off  the  merit  of  a  good  action,  change  it  to  something  worse. 

Since,  then,  we  have  shown  what  manner  of  man  the  pastor 
ought  to  be,  let  us  now  set  forth  after  what  manner  he  should 
No  one  kind  teach.  For,  as  long  before  us  Gregory  Nazi- 
adapted  *£?  anzen,1  of  reverend  memory,  has  taught,  one  and 
all  men  the  same  exhortation  does  not  suit  all,  inasmuch 

as  all  are  not  bound  together  by  similarity  of  character.  For 
the  things  that  profit  some  often  hurt  others;  seeing  that  also, 
for  the  most  part,  herbs  which  nourish  some  animals  are  fatal  to 
others;  and  the  gentle  hissing  that  quiets  horses  incites  whelps; 
and  the  medicine  which  abates  one  disease  aggravates  another; 
and  the  food  which  invigorates  the  life  of  the  strong  kills  little 
children.  Therefore,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  hearers 
ought  the  discourse  of  teachers  to  be  fashioned,  so  as  to  suit  all 
and  each  for  their  several  needs,  and  yet  never  deviate  from  the 

i  Gregory,  bishop  of  Nazianzus  (in  Cappadocia),  was  a  noted  churchman 
of  the  fourth  century. 


94  THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

art  of  common  edification.  For  what  are  the  intent  minds  of 
hearers  but,  so  to  speak,  a  kind  of  harp,  which  the  skilful  player, 
in  order  to  produce  a  tune  possessing  harmony,  strikes  in  various 
ways?  And  for  this  reason  the  strings  render  back  a  melodious 
sound,  because  they  are  struck  indeed  with  one  quill,  but  not 
with  one  kind  of  stroke.  Whence  every  teacher  also,  that  he 
may  edify  all  in  the  one  virtue  of  charity,  ought  to  touch  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers  out  of  one  doctrine,  but  not  with  one  and 
the  same  exhortation. 

Differently  to  be  admonished  are  these  that  follow: 

Men   and   women. 

The  poor  and  the  rich. 

The  joyful  and  the  sad. 

Prelates  and   subordinates. 

Servants  and  masters. 

The  wise  of  this  world  and  the  dull. 
Various  class-         The  impudent  and  the  bashful. 

tobedliSn-8  The  forward  and  the  faint-hearted. 

guished  The  impatient  and  the  patient. 

The  kindly  disposed  and  the  envious. 

The  simple  and  the  insincere. 

The  whole  and  the  sick. 

Those  who  fear  scourges,  and  therefore  live  innocently;  and 
those  who  have  grown  so  hard  in  iniquity  as  not  to  be  corrected 
even  by  scourges. 

The  too  silent,  and  those  who  spend  time  in  much  speaking. 

The  slothful  and  the  hasty. 

The  meek  and  the  passionate. 

The  humble  and  the  haughty. 

The  obstinate  and  the  fickle. 

The  gluttonous  and  the  abstinent. 

Those  who  mercifully  give  of  their  own,  and  those  who  would 
fain  seize  what  belongs  to  others. 

Those  who  neither  seize  the  things  of  others  nor  are  bountiful 


GREGORY   THE   GREAT  ON  THE   LIFE   OP  THE   PASTOR       95 

with  their  own;  and  those  who  both  give  away  the  things  they 
have,  and  yet  cease  not  to  seize  the  things  of  others. 

Those  who  are  at  variance,  and  those  who  are  at  peace. 

Lovers  of  strife  and  peacemakers. 

Those  who  understand  not  aright  the  words  of  sacred  law; 
and  those  who  understand  them  indeed  aright,  but  speak  them 
without  humility. 

Those  who,  though  able  to  preach  worthily,  are  afraid  through 
excessive  humility;  and  those  whom  imperfection  or  age  debars 
from  preaching,  and  yet  rashness  impels  to  it. 

(Admonition  7).1  Differently  to  be  admonished  are  the  wise  of 
this  world  and  the  dull.  For  the  wise  are  to  be  admonished  that 
they  leave  off  knowing  what  they  know;2  the  dull  also  are  to  be 
admonished  that  they  seek  to  know  what  they  know  not.  In 
the  former  this  thing  first,  that  they  think  themselves  wise,  is  to 
be  overcome;  in  the  latter,  whatsoever  is  already  known  of 
How  the  wise  heavenly  wisdom  is  to  be  built  up;  since,  being  in 
are  to  be  ad-  no  w*se  Proud>  they  have,  as  it  were,  prepared 
monished  their  hearts   for  supporting   a   building.      With 

those  we  should  labor  that  they  become  more  wisely  foolish,3 
leave  foolish  wisdom,  and  learn  the  wise  foolishness  of  God:  to 
these  we  should  preach  that  from  what  is  accounted  foolish- 

1  After  enumerating  quite  a  number  of  other  contrasted  groups  in  the 
foregoing  fashion  Gregory  proceeds  in  a  series  of  "admonitions"  to  take  up 
each  pair  and  tell  how  persons  belonging  to  it  should  be  dealt  with  by  the 
pastor.    One  of  these  admonitions  is  here  given  as  a  specimen. 

2  Gregory's  attitude  toward  the  "learning  of  the  world,"  especially  the 
classical  languages  and  literatures,  was  that  of  the  typical  Christian  ascetic. 
He  had  no  use  for  it  personally  and  regarded  its  influence  as  positively  harm- 
ful. It  must  be  said  that  there  was  little  such  learning  in  his  day,  for  the  old 
Latin  and  Greek  culture  had  now  reached  a  very  low  stage.  Gregory  took 
the  ground  that  the  churches  should  have  learned  bishops,  but  their  learning 
was  to  consist  exclusively  in  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  the  writings  of 
the  Church  fathers,  and  the  stories  of  the  martyrs.  As  a  matter  of  fact  not 
only  were  the  people  generally  quite  unable  to  understand  the  Latin  services 
of  the  Church,  but  great  numbers  of  the  clergy  themselves  stumbled  blindly 
through  the  ritual  without  knowing  what  they  were  saying;  and  this  con- 
dition of  things  prevailed  for  centuries  after  Gregory's  day.  [See  Charle- 
magne's letter  De  Litteris  Colendis,  p.  146.] 

3  That  is,  more  simple  and  less  self-satisfied  in  their  own  knowledge. 


96  THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH 

ness  they  should  pass,  as  from  a  nearer  neighborhood,  to  true 
wisdom. 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  things  we  are  brought  back  by  the 
earnest  desire  of  charity  to  what  we  have  already  said  above; 
that  every  preacher  should  give  forth  a  sound  more  by  his  deeds 
than  by  his  words,  and  rather  by  good  living  imprint  footsteps 
for  men  to  follow  than  by  speaking  show  them  the  way  to  walk 
in.  For  that  cock,  too,  whom  the  Lord  in  his  manner  of  speech 
takes  to  represent  a  good  preacher,  when  he  is  now  preparing  to 
crow,  first  shakes  his  wings,  and  by  smiting  himself  makes  him- 
self more  awake;  since  it  is  surely  necessary  that  those  who  give 
utterance  to  words  of  holy  preaching  should  first  be  well  awake 
Emphasis  on  in  earnestness  of  good  living,  lest  they  arouse 
tfsettlnff  a1106  °thers  with  their  voice  while  themselves  torpid 
right  example  in  performance;  that  they  should  first  shake 
themselves  up  by  lofty  deeds,  and  then  make  others  solicitous 
for  good  living;  that  they  should  first  smite  themselves  with  the 
wings  of  their  thoughts;  that  whatsoever  in  themselves  is  un- 
profitably  torpid  they  should  discover  by  anxious  investigation, 
and  correct  by  strict  self -discipline,  and  then  at  length  set  in 
order  the  life  of  others  by  speaking;  that  they  should  take  heed 
to  punish  their  own' faults  by  bewailings,  and  then  denounce 
what  calls  for  punishment  in  others;  and  that,  before  they  give 
voice  to  words  of  exhortation,  they  should  proclaim  in  their 
deeds  all  that  they  are  about  to  speak. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  RISE  OF  MOHAMMEDANISM 

13.    Selections  from  the  Koran 

The  Koran  comprises  all  of  the  recorded  speeches  and  sayings  of 
the  prophet  Mohammed  and  it  has  for  nearly  fifteen  centuries  been  the 
absolute  law  and  gospel  of  the  Mohammedan  religion.  The  teachings 
and  revelations  which  are  contained  in  it  are  believed  by  Mohammedans 
to  have  proceeded  directly  from  God.  They  were  delivered  orally  by 
Mohammed  from  time  to  time  in  the  presence  of  his  followers  and 
until  after  the  prophet's  death  in  632  no  attempt  was  made  to  put  them 
in  organized  written  form.  Many  of  the  disciples,  however,  remembered 
the  words  their  master  had  uttered,  at  least  until  they  could  inscribe 
them  on  palm  leaves,  bits  of  wood,  bleached  bones,  or  other  such 
articles  as  happened  to  be  at  hand.  In  the  reign  of  Abu-Bekr  (632-634), 
Mohammed's  successor,  it  became  apparent  that  unless  some  measure 
was  adopted  to  bring  these  scattered  sayings  together  they  were  in  a 
fair  way  to  be  lost  for  all  time  to  come.  Hence  the  caliph  intrusted  to 
a  certain  young  man  by  the  name  of  Zaid  the  task  of  collecting  and 
putting  in  some  sort  of  system  all  the  teachings  that  had  survived, 
whether  in  written  form  or  merely  in  the  minds  of  men.  Zaid  had 
served  Mohammed  in  a  capacity  which  we  should  designate  perhaps 
as  that  of  secretary,  and  so  should  have  been  well  qualified  for  the 
work.  In  later  years  (about  660)  the  Koran,  or  "the  reading,"  as  the 
collection  began  to  be  called,  was  again  thoroughly  revised.  There- 
after all  older  copies  were  destroyed  and  no  farther  changes  in  any 
respect  were  ever  made. 

The  Koran  is  made  up  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  chapters,  called 
surahs,  arranged  loosely  in  the  order  of  their  length,  beginning  with 
Med.  Hist.— 7  97 


98  THE  RISE  OF  MOHAMMEDANISM 

the  longest.  This  arrangement  does  not  correspond  either  to  the  dates 
at  which  the  various  passages  were  uttered  by  the  prophet  or  to  any 
sequence  of  thought  and  meaning,  so  that  when  one  takes  up  the  book 
to  read  it  as  it  is  ordinarily  printed  it  seems  about  as  confused  as  any- 
thing can  well  be.  Scholars,  however,  have  recently  discovered  the 
chronological  order  of  the  various  parts  and  this  knowledge  has  already 
come  to  be  of  no  little  assistance  in  the  work  of  interpretation.  Like 
all  sacred  books,  the  Koran  abounds  in  repetitions;  yet,  taken  all  in 
all,  it  contains  not  more  than  two-thirds  as  many  verses  as  the  New 
Testament,  and,  as  one  writer  has  rather  curiously  observed,  it  is  not 
more  than  one-third  as  lengthy  as  the  ordinary  Sunday  edition  of  the 
New  York  Herald.  The  teachings  which  are  most  emphasized  are  (1) 
the  unity  and  greatness  of  God,  (2)  the  sin  of  worshipping  idols,  (3) 
the  certainty  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and  the  last  judgment, 
(4)  the  necessity  of  a  belief  in  the  Scriptures  as  revelations  from  God 
communicated  through  angels  to  the  line  of  prophets,  (5)  the  luxuries 
of  heaven  and  the  torments  of  hell,  (6)  the  doctrine  of  predestination, 
(7)  the  authoritativeness  of  Mohammed's  teachings,  and  (8)  the  four 
cardinal  obligations  of  worship  (including  purification  and  prayer), 
fasting,  pilgrimages,  and  alms-giving.  Intermingled  with  these  are 
numerous  popular  legends  and  sayings  of  the  Arabs  before  Mohammed's 
day,  stories  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  derived  from  Jewish 
and  Christian  settlers  in  Arabia,  and  certain  definite  and  practical 
rules  of  everyday  conduct.  The  book  is  not  only  thus  haphazard  in 
subject-matter  but  it  is  also  very  irregular  in  interest  and  elegance. 
Portions  of  it  abound  in  splendid  imagery  and  lofty  conceptions,  and 
represent  the  literary  quality  of  the  Arabian  language  at  its  best,  though 
of  course  this  quality  is  very  largely  lost  in  translation.  The  later 
surahs — those  which  appear  first  in  the  printed  copy — are  largely  argu- 
mentative and  legislative  in  character  and  naturally  fall  into  a  more 
prosaic  and  monotonous  strain.  From  an  almost  inexhaustible  maze 
of  precepts,  exhortations,  and  revelations,  the  following  widely  sep- 
arated passages  have  been  selected  in  the  hope  that  they  will  serve  to 
show  something  of  the  character  of  the  Koran  itself,  as  well  as  the 
nature  of  some  of  the  more  important  Mohammedan  beliefs  and  ideals. 
It  will  be  found  profitable  to  make  a  comparison  of  Christian  beliefs 
on  the  same  points  as  drawn  from  the  New  Testament. 


SELECTIONS   FROM   THE   KORAN  99 

Source — Text  in  Edward  William  Lane,  Selections  from  the  Kur-dn,  edited  by- 
Stanley  Lane-Poole  (London,  1879),  passim. 

In  the  name  of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful. 

Praise  be  to  God,  the  Lord  of  the  Worlds, 
The  opening       The  Compassionate,  the  Merciful, 
prayer  i  The  King  of  the  day  of  judgment. 

Thee  do  we  worship,  and  of  Thee  seek  we  help. 

Guide  us  in  the  right  way, 

The  way  of  those  to  whom  Thou  hast  been  gracious, 

Not  of  those  with  whom  Thou  art  wroth,  nor  of  the  erring.2 

Say,  He  is  God,  One  [God]; 

God,  the  Eternal. 

He  begetteth  not  nor  is  begotten, 

And  there  is  none  equal  unto  Him.3 

God!  There  is  no  God  but  He,  the  Ever- Living,  the  Ever- 
Subsisting.  Slumber  seizeth  Him  not,  nor  sleep.  To  Him  be- 
The  "  throne  longeth  whatsoever  is  in  the  Heavens  and  whatso- 
verse ' '  ever  is  in  the  Earth.    Who  is  he  that  shall  intercede 

with  Him,  unless  by  His  permission?  He  knoweth  what  [hath 
been]  before  them  and  what  [shall  be]  after  them,  and  they  shall 
not  compass  aught  of  His  knowledge  save  what  He  willeth.  His 
Throne  comprehendeth  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth,  and  the  care 
of  them  burdeneth  Him  not.     And  He  is  the  High,  The  Great.4 

1  This  prayer  of  the  Mohammedans  corresponds  in  a  way  to  the  Lord's 
Prayer  of  Christian  peoples.  It  is  recited  several  times  in  each  of  the  five 
daily  prayers,  and  on  numerous  other  occasions. 

2 The  petition  is  for  guidance  in  the  "right  way"  of  the  Mohammedan, 
marked  out  in  the  Koran.  By  those  with  whom  God  is  "  wroth,"  and  by  the 
"erring,"  is  meant  primarily  the  Jews.  Mohammed  regarded  the  Jews  and 
Chistians  as  having  corrupted  the  true  religion. 

3  "This  chapter  is  held  in  particular  veneration  by  the  Mohammedans  and 
is  declared,  by  a  tradition  of  their  prophet,  to  be  equal  in  value  to  a  third 
part  of  the  whole  Koran." — Sale,  quoted  in  Lane,  Selections  from  the  Kur-dn, 
p.  5. 

4 This  passage,  known  as  the  "throne  verse,"  is  regarded  by  Mohamme- 
dans as  one  of  the  most  precious  in  the  Koran  and  is  often  recited  at  the  end 
of  the  five  daily  prayers.  It  is  sometimes  engraved  on  a  precious  stone  or  an 
ornament  of  gold  and  worn  as  an  amulet. 


100  THE   RISE   OF   MOHAMMEDANISM 

When  the  earth  is  shaken  with  her  shaking, 

And  the  earth  hath  cast  forth  her  dead, 

The  day  of  An&  man  sna^  sav >  '  What  aileth  her? ' 

resurrection        Qn  that  day  shall  she  tell  out  her  tidings, 

Because  thy  Lord  hath  inspired  her, 

On  that  day  shall  men  come  one  by  one  to  behold  their  works, 

And  whosoever  shall  have  wrought  an  ant's  weight  of  good  shall 

behold  it, 
And  whosoever  shall  have  wrought  an  ant's  weight  of  ill  shall 

behold  it. 

When  the  heaven  shall  be  cloven  asunder, 

And  when  the  stars  shall  be  scattered, 

And  when  the  seas  shall  be  let  loose, 

And  when  the  graves  shall  be  turned  upside-down,1 

Every  soul  shall  know  what  it  hath  done  and  left  undone. 

O  man!  what  hath  seduced  thee  from  thy  generous  Lord, 

Who    created    thee    and    fashioned    thee   and   disposed   thee 

aright? 
In  the  form  which  pleased  Him  hath  He  fashioned  thee. 
Nay,  but  ye  treat  the  Judgment  as  a  lie. 
Verily  there  are  watchers  over  you, 
The  coming        Worthy  recorders, 
judgment  Knowing  what  ye  do. 

Verily  in  delight  shall  the  righteous  dwell; 
And  verily  the  wicked  in  Hell  [-Fire]; 
They  shall  be  burnt  at  it  on  the  day  of  doom, 
And  they  shall  not  be  hidden  from  it. 
And  what  shall  teach  thee  what  the  Day  of  Judgment  is? 
Again:  What  shall  teach  thee  what  is  the  Day  of  Judgment? 
It  is  a  day  when  one  soul  shall  be  powerless  for  another  soul;  and 

all  on  that  day  shall  be  in  the  hands  of  God. 

When  one  blast  shall  be  blown  on  the  trumpet, 

i  These  are  all  to  be  signs  of  the  day  of  judgment. 


SELECTIONS   FROM,  nAiE   KOEAN  101 

And  the  earth  shall  be  raised  and  the  mountains,  and  be  broken 

to  dust  w^th  one  breaking, 
On  that  day  the  Calamity  shall  come  to  pass: 
And  the  heavens  shall  cleave  asunder,  being  frail  on  that  day, 
And  the  angels  on  the  sides  thereof;  and  over  them  on  that  day 

eight  of  the  angels  shall  bear  the  throne  of  thy  Lord. 
The  reward  of    On  that  day  ye  shall  be  presented  for  the  reckoning; 
the  righteous  none  of  your  secrets  shall  be  hidden. 

And  as  to  him  who  shall  have  his  book 1  given  to  him  in  his  right 
hand,  he  shall  say,  'Take  ye,  read  my  book;' 

Verily  I  was  sure  I  should  come  to  my  reckoning. 

And  his  [shall  be]  a  pleasant  life 

In  a  lofty  garden, 

Whose  clusters  [shall  be]  near  at  hand. 

'  Eat  ye  and  drink  with  benefit  on  account  of  that  which  ye  paid 
beforehand  in  the  past  days.' 

But  as  to  him  who  shall  have  his  book  given  to  him  in  his  left 
hand,  he  shall  say,  'O  would  that  I  had  not  had  my  book 
given  to  me, 

Nor  known  what  [was]  my  reckoning! 

O  would  that  my  death  had  been  the  ending  of  me! 

The  fate  of         My  wealth  hath  not  profited  me ! 

the  wicked  My  power  js  passed  from  me!' 

'Take  him  and  chain  him, 

Then  cast  him  into  hell  to  be  burnt, 

Then  in  a  chain  of  seventy  cubits  bind  him: 

For  he  believed  not  in  God,  the  Great, 

Nor  urged  to  feed  the  poor; 

Therefore  he  shall  not  have  here  this  day  a  friend, 

Nor  any  food  save  filth 

Which  none  but  the  sinners  shall  eat.' 

i  The  record  of  his  deeds  during  life  on  earth. 


102  tfHE  RISE   OF  MOHAMMEDANISM 

When  the  Calamity  shall  come  to  pass 

There  shall  not  be  a  soul  that  will  deny  its  happening, 

[It  will  be]  an  abaser  of  some,  an  exalter  of  others; 

When  the  earth  shall  be  shaken  with  a  violent  shaking, 

And  the  mountains  shall  be  crumbled  with  a  violent  crumbling, 

And  shall  become  fine  dust  scattered  abroad; 

And  ye  shall  be  three  classes.1 

And  the  people  of  the  right  hand,  what  shall  be  the  people  of 

the  right  hand! 
And  the  people  of  the  left  hand,  what  the  people  of  the  left 

hand ! 
And  the  Preceders,  the  Preceders!2 

"  The  preced-     These  [shall  be]  the  brought-nigh  [unto  God] 
ers  In  the  gardens  of  delight, — 

A  crowd  of  the  former  generations, 
And  a  few  of  the  latter  generations, 
Upon  inwrought  couches, 
Reclining  thereon,  face  to  face. 
Youths  ever-young  shall  go  unto  them  round  about 
With  goblets  and  ewers  and  a  cup  of  flowing  wine, 
Their  [heads]  shall  ache  not  with  it,  neither  shall  they  be  drunken; 
And  with  fruits  of  the  [sorts]  which  they  shall  choose, 
And  the  flesh  of  birds  of  the  [kinds]  which  they  shall  desire. 
And  damsels  with  eyes  like  pearls  laid  up 
We  mill  give  them  as  a  reward  for  that  which  they  have  done. 
Therein  shall  they  hear  no  vain  discourse  nor  accusation  of  sin, 
But  [only]  the  saying,  'Peace!  Peace!' 

iThe  three  classes  are:  (1)  the  "preceeders,"  (2)  the  people  of  the  right 
hand,  i.  e.,  the  good,  and  (3)  the  people  of  the  left  hand,  i.  e.,  the  evil.  The 
future  state  of  each  of  the  three  is  described  in  the  lines  that  follow. 

2  "Either  the  first  converts  to  Mohammedanism,  or  the  prophets,  who  were 
the  respective  leaders  of  their  people,  or  any  persons  who  nave  been  eminent 
examples  of  piety  and  virtue,  may  be  here  intended.  The  original  words 
literally  rendered  are,  The  Leaders,  The  Leaders:  which  repetition,  as  some 
suppose,  was  designed  to  express  the  dignity  of  these  persons  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  their  future  glory  and  happiness." — Sale,  quoted  in  Wherry,  Com- 
prehensive Commentary  on  the  Qur-dn,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  109-110. 


SELECTIONS   FROM   THE    KORAN  103 

And  the  people  of  the  right  hand — what  [shall  be]  the  people  of 

the  right  hand! 
[They  shall  dwell]  among  lote-trees  without  thorns 
And  bananas  loaded 'with  fruit, 
The  pleasures     And  a  shade  ever-spread, 
of  paradise  ^nd  water  e^er-flowing, 

And  fruits  abundant 

Unstayed  and  unforbidden,1 

And  couches  raised.2 

Verily  we  have  created  them  3  by  a  [peculiar]  creation, 

And  have  made  them  virgins, 

Beloved  of  their  husbands,  of  equal  age  [with  them], 

For  the  people  of  the  right  hand, 

A  crowd  of  t>he  former  generations 

And  a  crowd  of  the  latter  generations. 

And  the  people  of  the  left  hand — what  [shall  be]  the  people  of 

the  left  hand! 
[They  shall  dwell]  amidst  burning  wind  and  scalding  water, 
And  a  shade  of  blackest  smoke, 
Not  cool  and  not  grateful. 

For  before  this  they  were  blest  with  wordly  goods, 
And  they  persisted  in  heinous  sin, 
And  said,  '  When  we  shall  have  died  and  become  dust  and  bones, 

shall  we  indeed  be  raised  to  life, 
The  torments     And  our  fathers  the  former  generations?' 
of  hel1  Say,  verily  the  former  and  the  latter  generations 

Shall  be  gathered  together  for  the  appointed  time  of  a  known  day. 

i  The  luxuries  of  paradise — the  flowing  rivers,  the  fragrant  flowers,  the 
delicious  fruits — are  sharply  contrasted  with  the  conditions  of  desert  life 
most  familiar  to  Mohammed's  early  converts.  Such  a  description  of  the 
land  of  the  blessed  must  have  appealed  strongly  to  the  imaginative  Arabs. 
It  should  be  said  that  in  the  modern  Mohammedan  idea  of  heaven  the 
spiritual  element  has  a  rather  more  prominent  place. 

2  Lofty  beds. 

3 The  "damsels  of  paradise." 


104  THE   RISE   OF   MOHAMMEDANISM 

Then  ye,  O  ye  erring,  belying  [people], 

Shall  surely  eat  of  the  tree  of  Ez-Zakkoom,1 

And  fill  therewith  [your]  stomachs, 

And  drink  thereon  boiling  water, 

And  ye  shall  drink  as  thirsty  camels  drink. — 

This  [shall  be]  their  entertainment  on  the  day  of  retribution. 

i  A  scrubby  bush  bearing  fruit  like  almonds,  and  extremely  bitter.  It  was 
familiar  to  Arabs  and  hence  was  made  to  stand  as  a  type  of  the  tree  whose 
fruit  the  wicked  must  eat  in  the  lower  world. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  CAROLINGIAN  DYNASTY  OF  FRANK- 

ISH  KINGS 

14.   Pepin  the  Short  Takes  the  Title  of  King  (751) 

During  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  the  Merovingian  line  of 
Frankish  kings  degenerated  to  a  condition  of  weakness  both  pitiable 
and  ridiculous.  As  the  royal  family  became  less  worthy,  the  powers  of 
government  gradually  slipped  from  its  hands  into  those  of  a  series  of 
ministers  commonly  known  by  the  title  of  Mayor  of  the  Palace  (Maior 
Domus).  The  most  illustrious  of  these  uncrowned  sovereigns  was 
Charles  Martel,  the  victor  over  the  Saracens  hear  Poitiers,  in  whose 
time  the  Frankish  throne  for  four  years  had  no  occupant  at  all.  Martel 
contrived  to  make  his  peculiar  office  hereditary,  and  at  his  death  in 
741  left  it  to  be  filled  jointly  by  his  two  elder  sons,  Karlmann  and 
Pepin  the  Short.  They  decided  that  it  would  be  to  their  interest  to 
keep  up  the  show  of  Merovingian  royalty  a  little  longer  and  in  743 
allowed  Childeric  III.  to  mount  the  throne — a  weakling  destined  to 
be  the  last  of  his  family  to  wear  the  Frankish  crown.  Four  years  later 
Karlmann  renounced  his  office  and  withdrew  to  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino,  southeast  of  Rome,  leaving  Pepin  sole  "mayor"  and 
the  only  real  ruler  of  the  Franks.  Before  many  more  years  had  passed, 
the  utter  uselessness  of  keeping  up  a  royal  line  whose  members  were 
notoriously  unfit  to  govern  had  impressed  itself  upon  the  nation  to 
such  an  extent  that  when  Pepin  proceeded  to  put  young  Childeric  in 
a  monastery  and  take  the  title  of  king  for  himself,  nobody  offered  the 
slightest  objection.  The  sanction  of  the  Pope  was  obtained  for  the  act 
because  Pepin  thought  that  his  course  would  thus  be  made  to  appear 
less  like  an  outright  usurpation.  The  Pope's  reward  came  four  years 
later  when  Pepin  bestowed  upon  him  the  lands  in  northern  and  central 
Italy  which  eventually  constituted,  in  the  main,  the  so-called  States  of 

105 


106        THE   BEGINNINGS   OF  THE  CAROLINGIAN   DYNASTY 

the  Church.  In  later  times,  after  the  reign  of  Pepin's  famous  son 
Charlemagne,  the  new  dynasty  established  by  Pepin's  elevation  to  the 
throne  came  to  be  known  as  the  Carolingian  (from  Karolus,  or  Charles). 
The  following  account  of  the  change  from  the  Merovingian  to  the 
Carolingian  line  is  taken  from  the  so-called  Lesser  Annals  of  Lorsch. 
At  the  monastery  of  Lorsch,  as  at  nearly  every  other  such  place  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  records  or  "annals"  of  one  sort  or  another  were  pretty 
regularly  kept.  They  were  often  very  inaccurate  and  their  writers 
had  a  curious  way  of  filling  up  space  with  matters  of  little  importance, 
but  sometimes,  as  in  the  present  instance,  we  can  get  from  them  some 
very  interesting  information.  The  monastery  of  Lorsch  was  about 
twelve  miles  distant  from  Heidelberg,  in  southern  Germany. 

Source — Annates  Laurissenses  Minores  ["Lesser  Annals  of  Lorsch"].  Text 
in  Monumenta  Germania?  Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  L, 
p.  116. 

In  the  year  750  1  of  the  Lord's  incarnation  Pepin  sent  ambassa- 
dors to  Rome  to  Pope  Zacharias,2  to  inquire  concerning  the  kings 
of  the  Franks  who,  though  they  were  of  the  royal  line  and  were 
called  kings,  had  no  power  in  the  kingdom,  except  that  charters 
and  privileges  were  drawn  up  in  their  names.  They  had  abso- 
lutely no  kingly  authority,  but  did  whatever  the  Major  Domus  of 
the  Franks  desired.3    But  on  the  first  day  of  March  in  the  Campus 

i  The  date  is  almost  certainly  wrong.  Pepin  was  first  acknowledged  king 
by  the  Frankish  nobles  assembled  at  Soissons  in  November,  751.  It  was 
probably  in  751  (possibly  752)  that  Pope  Zacharias  was  consulted.  In  754 
Pepin  was  crowned  king  by  Pope  Stephen  III. ,  successor  of  Zacharias,  who 
journeyed  to  France  especially  for  the  purpose. 

2  Zacharias  was  pope  from  741  to  752. 

3  Einhard,  the  secretary  of  Charlemagne  [see  p.  108],  in  writing  a  bi- 
ography of  his  master,  described  the  condition  of  Merovingian  kingship  as 
follows:  "All  the  resources  and  power  of  the  kingdom  had  passed  into  the 
control  of  the  prefects  of  the  palace,  who  were  called  the  mayors  of  the 
palace,'  and  who  exercised  the  supreme  authority.  Nothing  was  left  to 
the  king.  He  had  to  content  himself  with  his  royal  title,  his  flowing  locks, 
and  long  beard.  Seated  in  a  chair  of  state,  he  was  wont  to  display  an  ap- 
pearance of  power  by  receiving  foreign  ambassadors  on  their  arrival,  and, 
on  their  departure,  giving  them,  as  if  on  his  own  authority,  those  answers 
which  he  had  been  taught  or  commanded  to  give.  Thus,  except  for  his 
empty  title,  and  an  uncertain  allowance  for  his  sustenance,  which  the  pre- 
fect of  the  palace  used  to  furnish  at  his  pleasure,  there  was  nothing  that  the 
king  could  call  his  own,  unless  it  were  the  income  from  a  single  farm,  and  that 
a  very  small  one,  where  he  made  his  home,  and  where  such  servants  as  were 


PEPIN   THE   SHORT  TAKES   THE   TITLE    OF   KING  107 

Martius,1  according  to  ancient  custom,  gifts  were  offered  to  these 
kings  by  the  people,  and  the  king  himself  sat  in  the  royal  seat 
with  the  army  standing  round  him  and  the  Major  Domus  in  his 
presence,  and  he  commanded  on  that  day  whatever  was  decreed 
by  the  Franks;  but  on  all  other  days  thenceforward  he  remained 
quietly  at  home.  Pope  Zacharias,  therefore,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
apostolic  authority,  replied  to  their  inquiry  that  it  seemed  to  him 
better  and  more  expedient  that  the  man  who  held  power  in  the 
kingdom  should  be  called  king  and  be  king,  rather  than  he 
who  falsely  bore  that  name.  Therefore  the  aforesaid  pope  com- 
manded the  king  and  people  of  the  Franks  that  Pepin,  who  was 
exercising  royal  power,  should  be  called  king,  and  should  be  estab- 
lished on  the  throne.  This  was  therefore  done  by  the  anointing 
of  the  holy  archbishop  Boniface  in  the  city  of  Soissons.  Pepin 
was  proclaimed  king,  and  Childeric,  who  was  falsely  called  king, 
was  shaved  and  sent  into  a  monastery. 

needful  to  wait  on  him  constituted  his  scanty  household.  When  he  went 
anywhere  he  traveled  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen,  with  a  rustic 
oxherd  for  charioteer.  In  this  manner  he  proceeded  to  the  palace,  and  to  the 
public  assemblies  of  the  people  held  every  year  for  the  dispatch  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  kingdom,  and  he  returned  home  again  in  the  same  sort  of  state. 
The  administration  of  the  kingdom,  and  every  matter  which  had  to  be  un- 
dertaken and  carried  through,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  was  managed  by 
the  mayor  of  the  palace." — Einhard,  Vita  Caroli  Magni,  Chap.  1. 
1  See  p.  52,  note  1. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  AGE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

15.   Charlemagne  the  Man 

Biographical  writings  make  up  a  not  inconsiderable  part  of  me- 
diaeval literature,  but  unfortunately  the  greater  portion  of  them  are 
to  be  trusted  in  only  a  limited  degree  by  the  student  of  history.  Many 
biographies,  especially  the  lives  of  the  saints  and  other  noted  Christian 
leaders,  were  prepared  expressly  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  world 
concrete  examples  of  how  men  ought  to  live.  Their  authors,  there- 
fore, were  apt  to  relate  only  the  good  deeds  of  the  persons  about 
whom  they  wrote,  and  these  were  often  much  exaggerated  for  the  sake 
of  effect.  The  people  of  the  time  generally  were  superstitious  and  easily 
appealed  to  by  strange  stories  and  the  recital  of  marvelous  events. 
They  were  not  critical,  and  even  such  of  them  as  were  able  to  read  at 
all  could  be  made  to  believe  almost  anything  that  the  writers  of  books 
cared  to  say.  And  since  these  writers  themselves  shared  in  the  super- 
stition and  credulousness  of  the  age,  naturally  such  biographies  as  were 
written  abounded  in  tales  which  anybody  to-day  would  know  at  a 
glance  could  not  be  true.  To  all  this  Einhard's  Life  of  Charles  the  Great 
stands  as  a  notable  exception.  It  has  its  inaccuracies,  but  it  still 
deserves  to  be  ranked  almost  in  a  class  of  its  own  as  a  trustworthy 
biographical  contribution  to  our  knowledge  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages. 

Einhard  (or  Eginhard)  was  a  Frank,  born  about  770  near  the  Oden- 
wald  in  Franconia.  After  being  educated  at  the  monastery  of  Fulda  he 
was  presented  at  the  Frankish  court,  some  time  between  791  and  796, 
where  he  remained  twenty  years  as  secretary  and  companion  of  the 
king,  and  later  emperor,  Charlemagne.  He  was  made  what  practically 
corresponds  to  a  modern  minister  of  public  works  and  in  that  capacity 
Is  thought  to  have  supervised  the  building  of  the  palace  and  basilica 
of  the  temple  at  Aachen,  the  palace  of  Ingelheim,  the  bridge  over  the 

108 


CHARLEMAGNE    THE   MAN  109 

Rhine  at  Mainz,  and  many  other  notable  constructions  of  the  king, 
though  regarding  the  precise  work  of  this  sort  which  he  did  there  is  a 
general  lack  of  definite  proof.  Despite  the  fact  that  he  was  a  layman, 
he  was  given  charge  of  a  number  of  abbeys.  His  last  years  were  spent 
at  the  Benedictine  monaster}-  of  Seligenstadt,  where  he  died  about  840. 
There  is  a  legend  that  Einhard's  wife,  Emma,  was  a  daughter  of  Charle- 
magne, but  this  is  to  be  regarded  as  merely  a  twelfth-century  invention. 
The  Vita  Caroli  Magni  was  written  as  an  expression  of  the  author's 
gratitude  to  his  royal  friend  and  patron,  though  it  did  not  appear 
until  shortly  after  the  latter's  death  in  814.  "  It  contains  the  history 
of  a  very  great  and  distinguished  man,"  says  Einhard  in  his  preface, 
"but  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  wonder  at,  besides  his  deeds,  except  the 
fact  that  I,  who  am  a  barbarian,  and  very  little  versed  in  the  Roman 
language,  seem  to  suppose  myself  capable  of  writing  gracefully  and 
respectably  in  Latin."  It  is  considered  ordinarily  that  Einhard  en- 
deavored to  imitate  the  style  of  the  Roman  Suetonius,  the  biographer 
of  the  first  twelve  Caesars,  though  in  reality  his  writing  is  perhaps 
superior  to  that  of  Suetonius  and  there  are  scholars  who  hold  that 
if  he  really  followed  a  classical  model  at  all  that  model  was  Julius 
Caesar.  Aside  from  the  matter  of  literary  style,  there  can  be  no  reasona- 
ble doubt  that  the  idea  of  writing  a  biography  of  his  master  was  sug- 
gested to  Einhard  by  the  biographies  of  Suetonius,  particularly  that 
of  the  Emperor  Augustus.  Despite  his  limitations,  says  Mr.  Hodgkin, 
the  fact  remains  that  "almost  all  our  real,  vivifying  knowledge  of 
Charles  the  Great  is  derived  from  Einhard,  and  that  the  Vita  Caroli 
is  one  of  the  most  precious  literary  bequests  of  the  early  Middle  Ages."  * 
Certainly  few  mediaeval  writers  had  so  good  an  opportunity  as  did 
Einhard  to  know  the  truth  about  the  persons  and  events  they  under- 
took to  describe. 

Source — Einhard,  Vita  Caroli  Magni  ["  Life  of  Charles  the  Great "],  Chaps. 
22-27.  Text  in  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz 
ed.),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  455-457.  Adapted  from  translation  by  Samuel 
Epes  Turner  in  "Harper's  School  Classics"  (New  York,  1880), 
pp.  56-65. 

22,   Charles  was  large  and  strong,  and  of  lofty  stature,  though 
not  excessively  tall.    The  upper  part  of  his  head  was  round,  his 
i  Thomas  Hodgkin,  Charles  the  Great  (London,  1903),  p.  222. 


110  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

eyes  very  large  and  animated,  nose  a  little  long,  hair  auburn,  and 
face  laughing  and  merry.  His  appearance  was  always  stately 
and  dignified,  whether  he  was  standing  or  sitting,  although  his 
neck  was  thick  and  somewhat  short  and  his  abdomen  rather 
prominent.  The  symmetry  of  the  rest  of  his  body  concealed 
these  defects.  His  gait  was  firm,  his  whole  carriage  manly,  and 
Personal  his  voice  clear,  but  not  so  strong  as  his  size  led 

appearance  one  ^0  expect.  His  health  was  excellent,  except 
during  the  four  years  preceding  his  death,  when  he  was  subject 
to  frequent  fevers;  toward  the  end  of  his  life  he  limped  a  little 
with  one  foot.  Even  in  his  later  years  he  lived  rather  according 
to  his  own  inclinations  than  the  advice  of  physicians;  the  latter 
indeed  he  very  much  disliked,  because  they  wanted  him  to  give 
up  roasts,  to  which  he  was  accustomed,  and  to  eat  boiled  meat 
instead.  In  accordance  with  the  national  custom,  he  took  fre- 
quent exercise  on  horseback  and  in  the  chase,  in  which  sports 
scarcely  any  people  in  the  world  can  equal  the  Franks.  He  en- 
joyed the  vapors  from  natural  warm  springs,  and  often  indulged 
in  swimming,  in  which  he  was  so  skilful  that  none  could  surpass 
him;  and  hence  it  was  that  he  built  his  palace  at  'Aix-la-Chapelle, 
and  lived  there  constantly  during  his  later  years.1     .     .     . 

23.  His  custom  was  to  wear  the  national,  that  is  to  say,  the 
Frankish,  dress — next  his  skin  a  linen  shirt  and  linen  breeches, 
and  above  these  a  tunic  fringed  with  silk;  while  hose  fastened  by 

i  The  German  name  for  Aix-la-Chapelle  was  Aachen.  From  Roman  times 
the  place  was  noted  throughout  Europe  for  its  warm  sulphur  springs  and 
for  centuries  before  Charlemagne's  day  it  had  been  a  favorite  resort  for 
health-seekers.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  his  reign  that  Charlemagne  de- 
termined to  have  the  small  palace  already  existing  rebuilt,  togetner  with  its 
accompanying  chapel.  Marbles  and  mosaics  were  obtained  at  Rome  and 
Ravenna,  and  architects  and  artisans  were  brought  together  for  the  work 
from  all  Christendom.  The  chapel  was  completed  in  805  and  was  dedicated 
by  Pope  Leo  III.  Both  palace  and  chapel  were  destroyed  a  short  time 
before  the  Emperor's  deatn,  probably  as  the  result  of  an  earthquake.  The 
present  town-house  of  Aix-la-Chapeile  has  been  constructed  on  the  ruins 
of  this  palace.  The  chapel,  rebuilt  on  the  ancient  octagonal  plan  in  983, 
contains  the  tomb  of  Charlemagne,  marked  by  a  stone  bearing  the  inscription 
"Carolo  Magno."  Besides  Aachen,  Charlemagne  had  many  other  residences, 
as  Compiegne,  Worms,  Attigny,  Mainz,  Paderborn,  Ratisbon,  Heristal,  and 
Thionville. 


CHARLEMAGNE  THE   MAN  111 

bands  covered  his  lower  limbs,  and  shoes  his  feet.  In  winter  he 
protected  his  shoulders  and  chest  by  a  close-fitting  coat  of  otter 
or  marten  skins.  Over  all  he  flung  a  blue  cloak,  and  he  always 
had  a  sword  girt  about  him,  usually  one  with  a  gold  or  silver  hilt 
and  belt.  He  sometimes  carried  a  jeweled  sword,  but  only  on 
Manner  great  feast-days  or  at  the  reception  of  ambassa- 

of  dress  ^ors  from  foreign  nations.     He  despised  foreign 

costumes,  however  handsome,  and  never  allowed  himself  to  be 
robed  in  them,  except  twice  in  Rome,  when  he  donned  the  Roman 
tunic,  chlamys,1  and  shoes;  the  first  time  at  the  request  of  Pope 
Hadrian,2  the  second  to  gratify  Leo,  Hadrian's  successor.3  On 
great  feast-days  he  made  use  of  embroidered  clothes,  and  shoes 
adorned  with  precious  stones;  his  cloak  was  fastened  with  a 
golden  buckle,  and  he  appeared  crowned  with  a  diadem  of  gold 
and  gems;  but  on  other  days  his  dress  differed  little  from  that  of 
ordinary  people. 

24.  Charles  was  temperate  in  eating,  and  especially  so  in 
drinking,  for  he  abhorred  drunkenness  in  anybody,  much  more 
in  himself  and  those  of  his  household;  but  he  could  not  easily 
abstain  from  food,  and  often  complained  that  fasts  injured  his 
health.  He  gave  entertainments  but  rarely,  only  on  great  feast- 
days,  and  then  to  large  numbers  of  people.  His  meals  consisted 
ordinarily  of  four  courses,  not  counting  the  roast,  which  his  hunts- 
men were  accustomed  to  bring  in  on  the  spit;  he  was  more  fond 
of  this  than  of  any  other  dish.  While  at  table,  he  listened  to 
reading  or  music.  The  subjects  of  the  readings  were  the  stories 
and  deeds  of  olden  time.  He  was  fond,  too,  of  St.  Augustine's 
books,  and   especially  of  the   one   entitled   The  City  of  God.4 

1  A  loose,  flowing  outer  garment,  or  cloak.  It  was  a  feature  of  ancient 
Greek  dress. 

2  Hadrian  I.,  772-775.    Charlemagne's  first  visit  to  Rome  was  in  774. 

3  Leo  III.,  795-816.  The  Roman  dress  was  donned  by  Charlemagne 
during  his  visit  in  800  [see  p.  130]. 

4  St.  Augustine,  the  greatest  of  the  Church  fathers,  was  born  in  Numidia 
in  354.  He  spent  a  considerable  part  of  his  early  life  studying  in  Rome 
and  other  Italian  cities.  The  De  Civitate  Dei  ("City  of  God"),  generally  re- 
garded as  his  most  important  work,  was  completed  in  426,  its  purpose  being 


112  THE  AGE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

He  was  so  moderate  in  the  use  of  wine  and  all  sorts  of  drink  that 
he  rarely  allowed  himself  more  than  three  cups  in  the  course  of  a 
Every-day  meal.      In  summer,  after  the  midday  meal,  he 

*"e  would  eat  some  fruit,  drain  a  single  cup,  put  off 

his  clothes  and  shoes,  just  as  he  did  for  the  night,  and  rest  for  two 
or  three  hours.  While  he  was  dressing  and  putting  on  his  shoes, 
he  not  only  gave  audience  to  his  friends,  but  if  the  Count  of  the 
Palace 1  told  him  of  any  suit  in  which  his  judgment  was  neces- 
sary, he  had  the  parties  brought  before  him  forthwith,  heard  the 
case,  and  gave  his  decision,  just  as  if  he  were  sitting  in  the  judg- 
ment-seat. This  was  not  the  only  business  that  he  transacted  at 
this  time,  but  he  performed  any  duty  of  the  day  whatever, 
whether  he  had  to  attend  to  the  matter  himself,  or  to  give 
commands  concerning  it  to  his  officers. 

25.  Charles  had  the  gift  of  ready  and  fluent  speech,  and  could 
express  whatever  he  had  to  say  with  the  utmost  clearness.  He 
was  not  satisfied  with  ability  to  use  his  native  language  merely, 
but  gave  attention  to  the  study  of  foreign  ones,  and  in  particular 
was  such  a  master  of  Latin  that  he  could  speak  it  as  well  as  his 
native  tongue;  but  he  could  understand  Greek  better  than  he 
could  speak  it.  He  was  so  eloquent,  indeed,  that  he  might  have 
been  taken  for  a  teacher  of  oratory.  He  most  zealously  cherished 
the  liberal  arts,  held  those  who  taught  them  in  great  esteem,  and 
conferred  great  honors  upon  them.  He  took  lessons  in  grammar 
of  the  deacon  Peter  of  Pisa,  at  that  time  an  aged  man.2    Another 

to  convince  the  Romans  that  even  though  the  supposedly  eternal  city  of 
Rome  had  recently  been  sacked  by  the  barbarian  Visigoths,  the  true  "city 
of  God"  was  in  the  hearts  of  men  beyond  the  reach  of  desecrating  invaders. 
When  he  wrote  the  book  Augustine  was  bishop  of  Hippo,  an  important  city 
of  northern  Africa.  His  death  occurred  in  430,  during  the  siege  of  Hippo  by 
Gaiseric  and  his  horde  of  Vandals. 

1  The  Count  of  the  Palace  was  one  of  the  coterie  of  officials  by  whose  aid 
Charlemagne  managed  the  affairs  of  the  state.  He  was  primarily  an  officer 
of  justice,  corresponding  in  a  way  to  the  old  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  but  with 
very  much  less  power. 

2  When  Charlemagne  captured  Pa  via,  thdl  Lombard  capital,  in  774,  he 
found  Peter  the  Pisan  teaching  in  that  city.  With  characteristic  zeal  for 
the  advancement  of  education  among  his  own  people  he  proceeded  to  trans- 
fer the  learned  deacon  to  the  Frankisn  Palace  School  [see  p.  144]. 


CHARLEMAGNE  THE   MAN  11$ 

deacon,  Albin  of  Britain,  surnamed  Alcuin,  a  man  of  Saxon  birth, 
who  was  the  greatest  scholar  of  the  day,  was  his  teacher  in  other 
Ed        .  branches   of   learning.1      The   king   spent   much 

and  accom-  time  and  labor  with  him  studying  rhetoric,  dia- 
lectic, and  especially  astronomy.  He  learned  to 
make  calculations,  and  used  to  investigate  with  much  curiosity 
and  intelligence  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  He  also 
tried  to  write,  and  used  to  keep  tablets  and  blanks  in  bed  under 
his  pillow,  that  at  leisure  hours  he  might  accustom  his  hand  to 
form  the  letters;  however,  as  he  began  his  efforts  late  in  life,  and 
not  at  the  proper  time,  they  met  with  little  success. 

26.  He  cherished  with  the  greatest  fervor  and  devotion  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  had  been  instilled  into 
him  from  infancy.  Hence  it  was  that  he  built  the  beautiful 
basilica  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  he  adorned  with  gold  and  silver 
and  lamps,  and  with  rails  and  doors  of  solid  brass.  He  had  the 
columns  and  marbles  for  this  structure  brought  from  Rome  and 
Ravenna,  for  he  could  not  find  such  as  were  suitable  elsewhere.2 
He  was  a  constant  worshipper  at  this  church  as  long  as  his  health 
permitted,  going  morning  and  evening,  even  after  nightfall, 
Interest  in  re-  Desi<^es  attending  mass.  He  took  care  that  all 
ligion  and  the  the  services  there  conducted  should  be  held  in 
the  best  possible  manner,  very  often  warning 
the  sextons  not  to  let  any  improper  or  unclean  thing  be  brought 
into  the  building,  or  remain  in  it.  He  provided  it  with  a  number 
of  sacred  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  and  with  such  a  quantity 
of  clerical  robes  that  not  even  the  door-keepers,  who  filled  the 
humblest  office  in  the  church,  were  obliged  to  wear  their  every- 
day clothes  when  in  the  performance  of  their  duties.     He  took 

1  Alcuin  was  born  at  York  in  735.  He  took  up  his  residence  at  Charle- 
magne's court  about  782,  and  died  in  the  office  of  abbot  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours 
in  804. 

2  During  the  Napoleonic  period  many  of  these  columns  were  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  French  and  transported  to  Paris.  Only  recently  have  they 
been  replaced  in  the  Aix-la-Chapelle  cathedral.  Most  of  them  came  originally 
from  the  palace  of  the  Exarch  of  Ravenna. 

Med.  Hist.— 8 


114  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

great  pains  to  improve  the  church  reading  and  singing,  for  he 
was  well  skilled  in  both,  although  he  neither  read  in  public  nor 
sang,  except  in  a  low  tone  and  with  others. 

27.  He  was  very  active  in  aiding  the  poor,  and  in  that  open 
generosity  which  the  Greeks  call  alms;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that 
he  not  only  made  a  point  of  giving  in  his  own  country  and  his 
own  kingdom,  but  when  he  discovered  that  there  were  Christians 
living  in  poverty  in  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Africa,  at  Jerusalem, 
Alexandria,  and  Carthage,  he  had  compassion  on  'their  wants, 
and  used  to  send  money  over  the  seas  to  them.  The  reason  that 
he  earnestly  strove  to  make  friends  with  the  kings  beyond  seas 
was  that  he  might  get  help  and  relief  to  the  Christians  living 
Generosity  under  their  rule.  He  cared  for  the  Church  of  St. 
and  charities  Peter  the  Apostle  at  Rome  above  all  other  holy 
and  sacred  places,  and  heaped  high  its  treasury  with  a  vast  wealth 
of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones.  He  sent  great  and  countless 
gifts  to  the  popes; *  and  throughout  his  whole  reign  the  wish  that 
he  had  nearest  his  heart  was  to  re-establish  the  ancient  authority 
of  the  city  of  Rome  under  his  care  and  by  his  influence,  and  to 
defend  and  protect  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  and  to  beautify  and 
enrich  it  out  of  his  own  store  above  all  other  churches.  Never- 
theless, although  he  held  it  in  such  veneration,  only  four  times2  did 
he  repair  to  Rome  to  pay  his  vows  and  make  his  supplications 
during  the  whole  forty-seven  years  that  he  reigned.3 

16.   The  War  with  the  Saxons  (772-803) 

When  Charlemagne  became  sole  ruler  of  the  Franks,  in  771,  he 
found  his  kingdom    pretty  well    hemmed   in   by  a  belt    of   kindred, 

1  These  statements  of  Einhard  respecting  the  lavishness  of  Charlemagne's 
gifts  must  be  taken  with  some  allowance.  They  were  doubtless  considerable 
for  the  day,  but  Charlemagne's  revenues  were  not  such  as  to  enable  him  to 
display  wealth  which  in  modern  times  would  be  regarded  as  befitting  a  mon- 
arch of  so  exalted  rank. 

2  In  774,  781,787,  and  800. 

3  Charlemagne  became  ioint  ruler  of  the  Franks  with  his  brother  Karl- 
mann  in  768;  hence  when  he  died,  in  814,  he  had  reigned  only  forty-six  years 
instead  of  forty-seven. 


THE   WAR   WITH   THE   SAXONS  115 

though  more  or  less  hostile,  Germanic  peoples.  The  most  important 
of  these  were  the  Visigoths  in  northern  Spain,  the  Lombards  in  the 
Po  Valley,  the  Bavarians  in  the  region  of  the  upper  Danube,  and  the 
Saxons  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe.  The  policy  of  the  new  king, 
perhaps  only  dimly  outlined  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  but  growing 
ever  more  definite  as  time  went  on,  was  to  bring  all  of  these  neigh- 
boring peoples  under  the  Frankish  dominion,  and  so  to  build  up  a  great 
state  which  should  include  the  whole  Germanic  race  of  western  and 
northern  continental  Europe.  Most  of  the  king's  time  during  the  first 
thirty  years,  or  two-thirds,  of  the  reign  was  devoted  to  this  stupendous 
task.  The  first  great  step  was  taken  in  the  conquest  of  the  Lombards  in 
774,  after  which  Charlemagne  assumed  the  title  of  King  of  the  Lom- 
bards. In  787  Bavaria  was  annexed  to  the  Frankish  kingdom,  the 
settlement  in  this  case  being  in  the  nature  of  a  complete  absorption 
rather  than  a  mere  personal  union  such  as  followed  the  Lombard  con- 
quest. The  next  year  an  expedition  across  the  Pyrenees  resulted  in  the 
annexation  of  the  Spanish  March — a  region  in  which  the  Visigoths  had 
managed  to  maintain  some  degree  of  independence  against  the  Sara- 
cens. In  all  these  directions  little  fighting  was  necessary  and  for  one 
reason  or  another  the  sovereignty  of  the  Frankish  king  was  recog- 
nized without  much  delay  or  resistance. 

The  problem  of  reducing  the  Saxons  was,  however,  a  very  different 
one.  The  Saxons  of  Charlemagne's  day  were  a  people  of  purest  Ger- 
manic stock  dwelling  in  the  land  along  the  Rhine,  Ems,  Weser,  and 
Elbe,  and  inland  as  far  as  the  low  mountains  of  Hesse  and  Thuringia — 
the  regions  which  now  bear  the  names  of  Hanover,  Brunswick,  Olden- 
burg, and  Westphalia.  The  Saxons,  influenced  as  yet  scarcely  at  all 
by  contact  with  the  Romans,  retained  substantially  the  manner  of 
life  described  seven  centuries  earlier  by  Tacitus  in  the  Germania.  They 
lived  in  small  villages,  had  only  the  loosest  sort  of  government,  and 
clung  tenaciously  to  the  warlike  mythology  of  their  ancestors.  Before 
Charlemagne's  time  they  had  engaged  in  frequent  border  wars  with 
the  Franks  and  had  shown  capacity  for  making  very  obstinate  resistance. 
And  when  Charlemagne  himself  undertook  to  subdue  them  he  entered 
upon  a  task  which  kept  him  busy  much  of  the  time  for  over  thirty  years, 
that  is,  from  772  to  803.  In  all  not  fewer  than  eighteen  distinct  cam- 
paigns were  made  into  the  enemy's  territory.     The  ordinary  course 


116  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

of  events  was  that  Charlemagne  would  lead  his  army  across  the  Rhine* 
in  the  spring,  the  Saxons  would  make  some  little  resistance  and  then 
disperse  or  withdraw  toward  the  Baltic,  and  the  Franks  would  leave 
a  garrison  and  return  home  for  the  winter.  As  soon  as  the  enemy's 
back  was  turned  the  Saxons  would  rally,  expel  or  massacre  the  garrison, 
and  assert  their  complete  independence  of  Frankish  authority.  The 
next  year  the  whole  thing  would  have  to  be  done  over  again.  There 
were  not  more  than  two  great  battles  in  the  entire  contest;  the  war 
consisted  rather  of  a  monotonous  series  of  "military  parades,"  apparent 
submissions,  revolts,  and  re-submissions.  As  Professor  Emerton  puts 
it,  "From  the  year  772  to  803,  a  period  of  over  thirty  years,  this  war 
was  always  on  the  programme  of  the  Frankish  policy,  now  resting  for 
a  few  years,  and  now  breaking  out  with  increased  fury,  until  finally 
the  Saxon  people,  worn  out  with  the  long  struggle  against  a  superior 
foe,  gave  it  up  and  became  a  part  of  the  Frankish  Empire."  1 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  Saxon  account  of  the  great 
contest  except  the  well-meant,  but  very  inadequate,  history  by  Widu- 
kind,  a  monk  of  Corbie,  written  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century. 
However,  the  following  passage  from  Einhard,  the  secretary  and 
biographer  of  Charlemagne,  doubtless  describes  with  fair  accuracy  the 
conditions  and  character  of  the  struggle.  A  few  of  the  writer's  strongest 
statements  regarding  Saxon  perfidy  should  be  accepted  only  with  some 
allowance  for  Frankish  prejudice. 


Source — Einhard,  Vita  Caroli  Magni,  Chap.  7.  Text  in  Monumenta  Ger- 
manice  Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  446-447. 
Adapted  from  translation  by  Samuel  Epes  Turner  m  "  Harper's 
School  Classics  "  (New  York,  1880),  pp.  26T28. 

No  war  ever  undertaken  by  the  Frankish  nation  was  carried 
on  with  such  persistence  and  bitterness,  or  cost  so  much  labor, 
because  the  Saxons,  like  almost  all  the  tribes  of  Germany,  were 
a  fierce  people,  given  to  the  worship  of  devils  and  hostile  to  our 
religion,  and  did  not  consider  it  dishonorable  to  transgress  and 
violate  all  law,  human  and  divine.     Then  there  were  peculiar 

1  Ephraim  Emerton,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Middle  Ages  (Boston, 
1903),  p.  189. 


THE   WAR    WITH   THE    SAXONS  117 

eircumstances  that  tended  to  cause  a  breach  of  peace  every  day. 
Except  in  a  few  places,  where  large  forests  or  mountain-ridges 
Lack  of  a  nat-  intervened  and  made  the  boundaries  certain,  the 
ural  frontier  line  between  ourselves  and  the  Saxons  passed 
almost  in  its  whole  extent  through  an  open  country,  so  that 
there  was  no  end  to  the  murders,  thefts,  and  arsons  on  both  sides. 
In  this  way  the  Franks  became  so  embittered  that  they  at  last 
resolved  to  make  reprisals  no  longer,  but  to  come  to  open  war 
with  the  Saxons. 

Accordingly,  war  was  begun  against  them,  and  was  waged  for 
thirty-three  successive  years1  with  great  fury;  more,  however, 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Saxons  than  of  the  Franks.  It  could 
doubtless  have  been  brought  to  an  end  sooner,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  faithlessness  of  the  Saxons.  It  is  hard  to  say  how  often 
they  were  conquered,  and,  humbly  submitting  to  the  king, 
Faithlessness  promised  to  do  what  was  enjoined  upon  them, 
of  the  Saxons  gave  without  hesitation  the  required  hostages, 
and  received  the  officers  sent  them  from  the  king.  They  were 
sometimes  so  much  weakened  and  reduced  that  they  promised 
to  renounce  the  worship  of  devils  and  to  adopt  Christianity;  but 
they  were  no  less  ready  to  violate  these  terms  than  prompt  to 
accept  them,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  which  came  easier  to 
them  to  do;  scarcely  a  year  passed  from  the  beginning  of  the  war 
without  such  changes  on  their  part.  But  the  king  did  not  suffer 
his  high  purpose  and  steadfastness — firm  alike  in  good  and  evil 
fortune — to  be  wearied  by  any  fickleness  on  their  part,  or  to  be 
turned  from  the  task  that  he  had  undertaken;  on  the  contrary, 
Charlemagne's  he  never  allowed  their  faithless  behavior  to  go  un- 
llxonTinGaul  Punished,  but  either  took  the  field  against  them 
and  Germany  in  person,  or  sent  his  counts  with  an  army  to  wreak 
vengeance  and  exact  righteous  satisfaction.2    At  last,  after  con- 

1  The  war  really  lasted  only  thirty,  or  at  the  most  thirty-one,  years. 

2  The  only  notable  act  of  vengeance  during  the  war  was  the  beheading 
of  4,500  Saxons  in  a  single  day  at  Verden,  on  the  Weser.  It  was  occasioned 
by  a  great  Saxon  revolt  in  782,  led  by  the  chieftain  Widukind. 


118  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

quering  and  subduing  all  who  had  offered  resistance,  he  took 
ten  thousand  of  those  who  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe,  and 
settled  them,  with  their  wives  and  children,  in  many  different 
bodies  here  and  there  in  Gaul  and  Germany.  The  war  that  had 
lasted  so  many  years  was  at  length  ended  by  their  acceding  to 
The  terms  of  the  terms  offered  by  the  king;  which  were  re- 
peace  nunciation  of  their  national  religious  customs  and 
the  worship  of  devils,  acceptance  of  the  sacraments  of  the  Christian 
religion,1  and  union  with  the  Franks  to  form  one  people. 

17.   The   Capitulary  Concerning  the  Saxon  Territory   (cir.  780) 

Just  as  the  Saxons  were  the  most  formidable  of  Charlemagne's 
foes  to  meet  and  defeat  in  open  battle,  so  were  they  the  most  difficult 
to  maintain  in  anything  like  orderly  allegiance  after  they  had  been 
tentatively  conquered.  This  was  true  in  part  because  of  their  un- 
tamed, freedom-loving  character,  but  also  in  no  small  measure  because 
of  the  thoroughgoing  revolution  which  the  Frankish  king  sought  to 
work  in  their  conditions  of  life,  and  especially  in  their  religion.  Before 
the  Saxon  war  was  far  advanced  it  had  very  clearly  assumed  the  char- 
acter of  a  crusade  of  the  Christian  Franks  against  the  "pagans  of  the 

1  The  formula  of  renunciation  and  confession  generally  employed  in  the 
Christianizing  of  the  Germans,  and  therefore  in  all  probability  in  the  con- 
version of  the  Saxons,  was  as  follows: 

Question.  Forsakest  thou  the  devil? 

Answer.  I  forsake  the  devil. 

Ques.  And  all  the  devil's  service? 

Ans.  And  I  forsake  all  the  devil's  service. 

Ques.  And  all  the  devil's  works? 

Ans.  And  I  forsake  all  the  devil's  works  and  words.  Thor  and  Woden  and 
Saxnot  and  all  the  evil  spirits  that  are  their  companions. 

Ques.  Believest  thou  in  God  the  Almighty  Father? 

Ans.  I  believe  in  God  the  Almighty  Father. 

Ques.  Believest  thou  in  Christ  the  Son  of  God? 

Ans.  I  believe  in  Christ  the  Son  of  God. 

Ques.  Believest  thou  in  the  Holy  Ghost? 

Ans.  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"Accepting  Christianity  was  to  the  German  very  much  like  changing  of 
allegiance  from  one  political  sovereign  to  another.  He  gave  up  Thor  and 
Woden  (Odin)  and  Saxnot,  and  in  their  place  took  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost." — Emerton,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
pp.  155-156.  Text  of  these  "  Interrogations  et  Responsiones  Baptismales" 
is  in  the  Ifionumenta  -Germanice  Historica,  Leges  (JBoretius  ed.),  Vol.  II., 
No.  107. 


CAPITULARY   CONCERNING  THE   SAXON   TERRITORY  119 

north."  And  when  the  Saxon  had  been  brought  to  give  sullen  promise 
of  submission,  it  was  his  dearest  possession — his  fierce,  heroic  mythology 
— that  was  first  to  be  swept  away.  By  the  stern  decree  of  the  conqueror 
Woden  and  Thor  and  Freya  must  go.  In  their  stead  was  to  be  set  up 
the  Christian  religion  with  its  churches,  its  priests,  its  fastings,  its  cere- 
monial observances.  Death  was  to  be  the  penalty  for  eating  meat  during 
Lent,  if  done  "out  of  contempt  for  Christianity/ '  and  death  also  for 
"causing  the  body  of  a  dead  man  to  be  burned  in  accordance  with 
pagan  rites."  Even  for  merely  scorning  "to  come  to  baptism,"  or 
"wishing  to  remain  a  pagan,"  a  man  was  to  forfeit  his  life.  The  se- 
lections which  follow  are  taken  from  the  capitulary  De  Partibus  Saxonice, 
which  was  issued  by  Charlemagne  probably  at  the  Frankish  assembly 
held  at  Paderborn  in  780.  If  this  date  is  correct  (and  it  cannot  be  far 
wrong)  the  regulations  embodied  in  the  capitulary  were  established 
for  the  Saxon  territories  when  there  perhaps  seemed  to  be  a  good 
prospect  of  peace  but  when,  as  later  events  showed,  there  yet  remained 
twenty-three  years  of  war  before  the  final  subjugation.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  struggle  the  Church  had  been  busy  setting  up  new 
centers  of  influence — some  abbeys  and  especially  the  great  bishoprics 
of  Bremen,  Minden,  Paderborn,  Verden,  Osnabruck,  and  Halberstadt — 
among  the  Saxon  pagans,  and  the  primary  object  of  Charlemagne  in 
this  capitulary  was  to  give  to  these  ecclesiastical  foundations  the 
task  of  civilizing  the  country  and  to  protect  them,  together  with  his 
counts  or  governing  agents,  while  they  should  be  engaged  in  this  work. 
The  severity  of  the  Saxon  war  was  responsible  for  the  unusually 
stringent  character  of  this  body  of  regulations.  In  797,  at  a  great 
assembly  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  another  capitulary  for  the  Saxons  was 
issued,  known  as  the  Capitulum  Saxonicum,  and  in  this  the  harsh 
features  of  the  earlier  capitulary  were  considerably  relaxed.  By  797 
the  resistance  of  the  Saxons  was  pretty  well  broken,  and  it  had  become 
Charlemagne's  policy  to  give  his  conquered  subjects  a  government 
as  nearly  as  possible  like  that  the  Franks  themselves  enjoyed.  The 
chief  importance  of  Charlemagne's  conquests  toward  the  east  lies  in 
the  fact  that  by  them  broad  stretches  of  German  territory  were  brought 
for  the  first  time  within  the  pale  of  civilization. 

These  capitularies,  like  the  hundreds  of  others  that  were  issued  by  the 
various  kings  of  the  Franks,  were  edicts  or  decrees  drawn  up  under  the 


120  THE  AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

king's  direction,  discussed  and  adopted  in  the  assembly  of  the  people, 
and  published  in  the  local  districts  of  the  kingdom  by  the  counts 
and  bishops.  They  were  of  a  less  permanent  and  fixed  character 
than  the  so-called  "leges,"  or  laws  established  by  long  usage  and 
custom. 

Source — Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Leges  (Boretius  ed.),  Vol.  I., 
No.  26,  pp.  68-70.  Translated  by  Dana  C.  Munro  in  University 
of  Pennsylvania  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  VI.,  No.  5,  pp. 
2-5. 

First,  concerning  the  greater  chapters  it  has  been  en- 
acted:1 

It  is  pleasing  to  all  that  the  churches  of  Christ,  which  are  now 
being  built  in  Saxony  and  consecrated  to  God,  should  not  have 
less,  but  greater  and  more  illustrious  honor  than  the  shrines  of 
the  idols  have  had. 

2.  If  any  one  shall  have  fled  to  a  church  for  refuge,  let  no  one 
presume  to  expel  him  from  the  church  by  violence,  but  he  shall 
Th  hurch  «  ^e  ^e^  m  Peace  until  he  shall  be  brought  to  the 
as  places  of        judicial  assemblage;  and  on  account  of  the  honor 

due  to  God  and  the  saints,  and  the  reverence  due 
to  the  church  itself,  let  his  life  and  all  his  members  be  granted  to 
him.  Moreover,  let  him  plead  his  cause  as  best  he  can  and  he 
shall  be  judged;  and  so  let  him  be  led  to  the  presence  of  the  lord 
king,  and  the  latter  shall  send  him  where  it  shall  seem  fitting 
to  his  clemency. 

3.  If  any  one  shall  have  entered  a  church  by  violence  and 
shall  have  carried  off  anything  in  it  by  force  or  theft,  or 
shall  have  burned  the  church  itself,  let  him  be  punished  by 
death.2 


1  That  is,  the  more  important  offenses,  involving  capital  punishment, 
as  contrasted  with  the  later  "lesser  chapters"  dealing  with  minor  mis- 
demeanors. 

2  The  Saxons  were  to  be  won  to  the  Church  through  the  protection  it  af- 
forded, but  they  were  likewise  to  be  made  to  stand  in  awe  of  the  sanctity  of 
its  property. 


CAPITULARY   CONCERNING   THE   SAXON    TERRITORY  121 

4.  If  any  one,  out  of  contempt  for  Christianity,  shall  have 
ff  despised  the  holy  Lenten  feast  and  shall  have  eaten 

against  the         flesh,  let  him  be  punished  by  death.   But,  neverthe- 
less, let  it  be  taken  into  consideration  by  a  priest, 
lest  perchance  any  one  from  necessity  has  been  led  to  eat  flesh.1 

5.  If  any  one  shall  have  killed  a  bishop  or  priest  or  deacon 
let  him  likewise  be  punished  capitally. 

6.  If  any  one,  deceived  by  the  devil,  shall  have  believed,  after 
the  manner  of  the  pagans,  that  any  man  or  woman  is  a  witch 
and  eats  men,  and  on  this  account  shall  have  burned  the  person, 
or  shall  have  given  the  person's  flesh  to  others  to  eat,  or  shall 
have  eaten  it  himself,  let  him  be  punished  by  a  capital  sentence. 

7.  If  any  one,  in  accordance  with  pagan  rites,  shall  have 
caused  the  body  of  a  dead  man  to  be  burned,  and  shall  have  re- 
duced his  bones  to  ashes,  let  him  be  punished  capitally. 

8.  If  any  one  of  the  race  of  the  Saxons  hereafter,  concealed 
among  them,  shall  have  wished  to  hide  himself  unbaptized, 
Refusal  to  be  and  shall  have  scorned  to  come  to  baptism, 
baptized  an(j  shall  have  wished  to  remain  a  pagan,  let 
him  be  punished  by  death. 

9.  If  any  one  shall  have  sacrificed  a  man  to  the  devil,  and, 
after  the  manner  of  the  pagans,  shall  have  presented  him  as  a 
victim  to  the  demons,  let  him  be  punished  by  death. 

10.  If  any  one  shall  have  formed  a  conspiracy  with  the  pagans 
against  the  Christians,  or  shall  have  wished  to  join  with  them 
c        .  in  opposition  to  the  Christians,  let  him  be  pun- 
against  Chris-     ished  by  death;  and  whosoever  shall  have  con- 
sented   fraudulently    to    this    same    against    the 

king  and  the  Christian  people,  let  him  be  punished  by  death. 

11.  If  any  one  shall  have  shown  himself  unfaithful  to  the 
lord  king,  let  him  be  punished  with  a  capital  sentence. 

1  The  apparent  harshness  of  this  whole  body  of  regulations  was  considera- 
bly diminished  in  practice  by  the  large  discretion  left  to  the  priests,  as  in 
this  case.  They  were  exhorted  to  exercise  care  and  to  take  circumstances 
into  account  in  judging  a  man's  guilt  or  innocence. 


122  THE   AGE   OF    CHARLEMAGNE 

13.  If  any  one  shall  have  killed  his  lord  or  lady,  let  him  be 
punished  in  a  like  manner. 

14.  If,  indeed,  for  these  mortal  crimes  secretly  committed 
any  one  shall  have  fled  of  his  own  accord  to  a  priest,  and  after 
confession  shall  have  wished  to  do  penance,  let  him  be  freed  by 
the  testimony  of  the  priest  from  death.     .     .     .* 

18.  On  the  Lord's  day  no  meetings  or  public  judicial  assem- 
blages shall  be  held,  unless  perchance  in  a  case  of  great  neces- 
Observance  sity,  or  when  war  compels  it,  but  all  shall  go  to 
and  of  festival  cnuTch  to  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  shall  be  free 
days  for  prayers  or  good  works.  Likewise,  also,  on  the 
special  festivals  they  shall  devote  themselves  to  God  and  to  the 
services  of  the  Church,  and  shall  refrain  from  secular  assemblies. 

19.  Likewise,  it  has  been  pleasing  to  insert  in  these  decrees 
that  all  infants  shall  be  baptized  within  a  year;  and  we  have 
Baptism  of  decreed  this,  that  if  any  one  shall  have  refused 
mfants  to  bring  his  infant  to  baptism  within  the  course 
of  a  year,  without  the  advice  or  permission  of  the  priest,  if  he  is 
a  noble  he  shall  pay  120  solidi2  to  the  treasury;  if  a  freeman,  60; 
if  a  Vitus,  30.3 

20.  If  any  one  shall  have  contracted  a  prohibited  or  illegal 
marriage,  if  a  noble,  60  solidi  ;  if  a  freeman,  30;  if  a  litus,  15. 

21.  If  any  one  shall  have  made  a  vow  at  springs  or  trees  or 
Keeping  up  groves,4  or  shall  have  made  an  offering  after  the 
heathen  rites  manner  of  the  heathen  and  shall  have  partaken 
of  a  repast  in  honor  of  the  demons,  if  he  shall  be  a  noble,  60 

1  From  this  point  the  capitulary  deals  with  the  "lesser  chapters,"  i.  e.,  non- 
capital offenses. 

2  For  the  value  of  the  solidus,  see  p.  61. 

3  Three  classes  of  society  are  distinguished — nobles,  freemen,  and  serfs. 
The  ordinary  freeman  pays  half  as  much  as  the  noble,  and  the  serf  half  as 
much  as  the  freeman. 

4  A  prominent  characteristic  of  the  early  Teutonic  religion  was  that  its 
ceremonies  were  invariably  conducted  out  of  doors.  Tacitus,  in  the  Ger- 
mania  (Chap.  9),  tells  us  that  the  Germans  had  no  temples  or  other  buildings 
for  religious  purposes,  but  worshipped  in  sacred  groves.  The  "Irmensaule," 
probably  a  giant  tree-trunk,  was  the  central  shrine  of  the  Saxon  people, 
and  Charlemagne's  destruction  of  it  in  772  was  the  most  serious  offense 
that  could  have  been  committed  against  them, 


CAPITULARY   CONCERNING   THE   SAXON   TERRITORY         123 

solidi  ;  if  a  freeman,  30;  if  a  Vitus,  15.  If,  indeed,  they  have  not 
the  means  of  paying  at  once,  they  shall  be  given  into  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church  until  the  solidi  are  paid. 

22.  We  command  that  the  bodies  of  Saxon  Christians  shall  be 
carried  to  the  church  cemeteries,  and  not  to  the  mounds  of  the 
pagans. 

23.  We  have  ordered  that  diviners  and  soothsayers  shall  be 
handed  over  to  the  churches  and  priests. 

24.  Concerning  robbers  and  malefactors  who  shall  have  fled 
from  one  county  to  another,  if  any  one  shall  receive  them  into 
Fugitive  his  protection  and  shall  keep  them  with  him  for 
criminals  seven  nights,1  except  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
them  to  justice,  let  him  pay  our  ban.2  Likewise,  if  a  count 3  shall 
have  concealed  them,  and  shall  be  unwilling  to  bring  them  forward 
so  that  justice  may  be  done,  and  is  not  able  to  excuse  himself  for 
this,  let  him  lose  his  office. 

26.  No  one  shall  presume  to  impede  any  man  coming  to  us 
to  seek  justice;  and  if  any  one  shall  have  attempted  to  do  this, 
he  shall  pay  our  ban. 

34.  We  have  forbidden  that  Saxons. shall  hold  public  assem- 
blies in  general,  unless  perchance  our  missus  4  shall  have  caused 
Public  them  to  come  together  in  accordance  with  our 

assemblies  command;   but   each   count   shall   hold   judicial 

assemblies  and  administer  justice  in  his  jurisdiction.  And  this 
shall  be  cared  for  by  the  priests,  lest  it  be  done  otherwise.5 

iThe  Germans  reckoned  by  nights  rather  than  by  days,  as  explained  by 
Tacitus,  Germania,  Chap.  11  [see  p.  27]. 

2  A  sum  assessed  by  the  king,  in  this  case  against  the  illegal  harboring 
of  criminals. 

3  The  counts,  together  with  the  bishops,  were  the  local  representatives  or 
agents  of  the  king.  They  presided  over  judicial  assemblies,  collected  reve- 
nues, and  preserved  order.  There  were  about  three  hundred  of  them  in 
Charlemagne's  empire  when  at  its  greatest  extent. 

4  An  officer  sent  out  by  the  king  to  investigate  the  administration  of  the 
counts  and  render  judgment  in  certain  cases.  As  a  rule  two  were  sent  to- 
gether, a  layman  and  an  ecclesiastic  [see  p.  134]. 

5  Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  priests  were  thus  charged  with  the 
responsibility  of  seeing  that  local  government  in  their  various  communities 
was  just  and  legal. 


124  THE   AGE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

18.   The   Capitulary  Concerning  the  Royal  Domains   (cir.  800) 

The  revenues  which  came  into  Charlemagne's  treasury  were  derived 
chiefly  from  his  royal  domains.  There  was  no  system  of  general  tax- 
ation, such  as  modern  nations  maintain,  and  the  funds  realized  from 
gifts,  fines,  rents,  booty,  and  tribute  money,  were  quite  insufficient  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  court,  modest  though  they  were.  Charlemagne's 
interest  in  his  villas,  or  private  farms,  was  due  therefore  not  less  to  his 
financial  dependence  upon  them  than  to  his  personal  liking  for  thrifty 
agriculture  and  thoroughgoing  administration.  The  royal  domains  of 
the  Frankish  kingdom,  already  extensive  at  Charlemagne's  accession, 
were  considerably  increased  during  his  reign.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  Charlemagne  was  doubtless  the  greatest  landed  proprietor  of  the 
realm  and  that  he  "supervised  the  administration  of  these  lands  as  a 
sovereign  who  knows  that  his  power  rests  partly  on  his  riches."  1  He 
gave  the  closest  personal  attention  to  his  estates  and  was  always  watch- 
ful lest  he  be  defrauded  out  of  even  the  smallest  portion  of  their  prod- 
ucts which  was  due  him.  The  capitulary  De  Villis,  from  which  the 
following  passages  have  been  selected,  is  a  lengthy  document  in  which 
Charlemagne  sought  to  prescribe  clearly  and  minutely  the  manifold 
duties  of  the  stewards  in  charge  of  these  estates.  We  may  regard  it, 
however,  as  in  the  nature  of  an  ideal  catalogue  of  what  the  king  would 
like  to  have  on  his  domains  rather  than  as  a  definite  statement  of 
what  was  always  actually  to  be  found  there.  From  it  may  be  gleaned 
many  interesting  facts  regarding  rural  life  in  western  Europe  during 
the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries.  Its  date  is  uncertain,  but  it  was  about 
800 — possibly  somewhat  earlier. 

Source — Text  in  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica,  Leges  (Boretius  ed.) ,  Vol.  I., 
No.  32,  pp.  82-91.  Translated  by  Roland  P.  Falkner  in  Univ.  of 
Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  III.,  No.  2,  pp.  2-4. 

62.2  We  desire  that  each  steward  shall  make  an  annual  state- 
ment of  all  our  income,  with  an  account  of  our  lands  cultivated 
by  the  oxen  which  our  plowmen  drive,  and  of  our  lands  which 

1  Bemont  and  Monod,  Mediaeval  Europe  (New  York,  1902),  p.  202. 

2  Chapter  62  is  here  given  out  of  order  because  it  contains  a  compre- 
hensive survey  of  the  products  and  activities  upon  which  the  royal  stewards 
were  expected  to  report.  The  other  chapters  are  more  specific.  It  is  likely 
that  they  have  not  come  down  to  us  in  their  original  order. 


CAPITULARY   CONCERNING   THE   ROYAL   DOMAINS  125 

the  tenants  of  farms  ought  to  plow; 1  an  account  of  the  pigs,  of 
the  rents,2  of  the  obligations  and  fines;  of  the  game  taken  in  our 
forests  without  our  permission;  of  the  various  compositions;3  of 
the  mills,  of  the  forest,  of  the  fields,  and  of  the  bridges  and  ships; 
of  the  freemen  and  the  districts  under  obligations  to  our  treas- 
ury; of  markets,  vineyards,  and  those  who  owe  wine  to  us;  of 
Report  to  be      ^ne  nay>  nre-wood,  torches,  planks,  and  other  kinds 

made  to  the  0f  lumber;  of  the  waste-lands;  of  the  vegetables, 
king  by  his 

stewards  each  millet,  and  panic,  and  of  the  wool,  flax,  and  hemp; 

Christmas-tide  of  the  f mits  of  the  treeg .  of  the  nut  treeg ^  larger  and 

smaller;  of  the  grafted  trees  of  all  kinds;  of  the  gardens;  of  the 
turnips;  of  the  fish-ponds;  of  the  hides,  skins,  and  horns;  of  the 
honey  and  wax;  of  the  fat,  tallow  and  soap;  of  the  mulberry  wine, 
cooked  wine,  mead,  vinegar,  beer,  wine  new  and  old;  of  the  new 
grain  and  the  old;  of  the  hens  and  eggs;  of  the  geese;  of  the  number 
of  fishermen,  smiths,  sword-makers,  and  shoe-makers;  of  the  bins 
and  boxes;  of  the  turners  and  saddlers;  of  the  forges  and  mines, 
that  is  iron  and  other  mines;  of  the  lead  mines;  of  the  colts  and 
fillies.  They  shall  make  all  these  known  to  us,  set  forth  separately 
and  in  order,  at  Christmas,  in  order  that  we  may  know  what  and 
how  much  of  each  thing  we  have. 

23.   On  each  of  our  estates  our  stewards  are  to  have  as  many 
Domestic  cow-houses,    pig-sties,    sheep-folds,    stables    for 

animals  goats,  as  possible,  and  they  ought  never  to  be  with- 

out these.    And  let  them  have  in  addition  cows  furnished  by  our 


1  The  ordinary  estate  in  this  period,  whether  royal  or  not,  consisted  of  two 
parts.  One  was  the  demesne,  which  the  owner  kept  under  his  immediate 
control;  the  other  was  the  remaining  lands,  which  were  divided  among  ten- 
ants who  paid  certain  rentals  for  their  use  and  also  performed  stated  serv- 
ices on  the  lord's  demesne.  Charlemagne  instructs  his  stewards  to  report 
upon  both  sorts  of  land. 

2  Probably  payments  for  the  right  to  keep  pigs  in  the  woods.  The  most 
common  meat  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  pork  and  the  use  of  the  oak  forests 
as  hog  pasture  was  a  privilege  of  considerable  value. 

3  Fines  imposed  upon  offenders  to  free  them  from  crime  or  to  repair 
damages  done. 

4  Panic  was  a  kind  of  grass,  the  seeds  of  which  were  not  infrequently  used 
for  food. 


126  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

serfs 1  for  performing  their  service,  so  that  the  cow-houses  and 
plows  shall  be  in  no  way  diminished  by  the  service  on  our  de- 
mesne. And  when  they  have  to  provide  meat,  let  them  have 
steers  lame,  but  healthy,  and  cows  and  horses  which  are  not 
mangy,  or  other  beasts  which  are  not  diseased  and,  as  we  have 
said,  our  cow-houses  and  plows  are  not  to  be  diminished  for  this. 

34.  They  must  provide  with  the  greatest  care  that  whatever 
is  prepared  or  made  with  the  hands,  that  is,  lard,  smoked  meat, 
Cleanliness  sa-lt  meat,  partially  salted  meat,  wine,  vinegar, 
enjoined  mulberry   wine,   cooked   wine,   gams,2   mustard, 

cheese,  butter,  malt,  beer,  mead,  honey,  wax,  flour,  all  should 
be  prepared  and  made  with  the  greatest  cleanliness. 

40.  That  each  steward  on  each  of  our  domains  shall  always 
have,  for  the  sake  of  ornament,  swans,  peacocks,  pheasants, 
ducks,  pigeons,  partridges,  turtle-doves. 

42.  That  in  each  of  our  estates,  the  chambers  shall  be  provided 
with  counterpanes,  cushions,  pillows,  bed-clothes,  coverings 
Household  f°r  the  tables  and  benches;  vessels  of  brass,  lead, 
furniture  jron  an(j  wood;  andirons,  chains,  pot-hooks,  adzes, 
axes,  augers,  cutlasses,  and  all  other  kinds  of  tools,  so  that  it 
shall  never  be  necessary  to  go  elsewhere  for  them,  or  to  borrow 
them.  And  the  weapons,  which  are  carried  against  the  enemy, 
shall  be  well-cared  for,  so  as  to  keep  them  in  good  condition;  and 
when  they  are  brought  back  they  shall  be  placed  in  the  chamber. 

43.  For  our  women's  work  they  are  to  give  at  the  proper  time, 
as  has  been  ordered,  the  materials,  that  is  the  linen,  wool,  woad,3 
vermilion,  madder,4  wool-combs,  teasels,5  soap,  grease,  vessels, 
and  the  other  objects  which  are  necessary. 

1  The  serfs  were  a  semi-free  class  of  country  people.  They  did  not  own 
the  land  on  which  they  lived  and  were  not  allowed  to  move  off  it  without 
the  owner's  consent.  They  cultivated  the  soil  and  paid  rents  of  one  kind  or 
another  to  their  masters — in  the  present  case,  to  the  agents  of  the  king. 

2  A  variety  of  fermented  liquor  made  of  salt  fish. 

3  A  blue  coloring  matter  derived  from  the  leaves  of  a  plant  of  the  same 
name. 

*  A  red  coloring  matter  derived  from  a  plant  of  the  same  name. 
5  Burrs  of  the  teasel  plant,  stiff  and  prickly,  with  hooked  bracts;  used  in 
primitive  manufacturing  for  raising  a  nap  on  woolen  cloth. 


INVENTORY   OP   ONE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE^    ESTATES         127 

44.  Of  the  food  products  other  than  meat,  two-thirds  shall  be 

sent  each  year  for  our  own  use,  that  is  of  the  vegetables,  fish, 

Supplies  to  be   cheese,  butter,  honey,  mustard,  vinegar,  millet, 
furnished  the  '  '  J '  &  . 

king  panic,  dried  and  green  herbs,  radishes,  and  in 

addition  of  the  wax,  soap  and  other  small  products;    and  they 

shall  tell  us  how  much  is  left  by  a  statement,  as  we  have  said 

above;  and  they  shall  not  neglect  this  as  in  the  past;  because 

from  those  two-thirds,  we  wish  to  know  how  much  remains. 

45.  That  each  steward  shall  have  in  his  district  good  work- 
men, namely,  blacksmiths,  gold-smith,  silver-smith,  shoe-makers, 
Workmen  on  turners,  carpenters,  sword-makers,  fishermen, 
the  estates  foilers,  soap-makers,  men  who  know  how  to  make 
beer,  cider,  berry,  and  all  the  other  kinds  of  beverages,  bakers  to 
make  pastry  for  our  table,  net-makers  who  know  how  to  make 
nets  for  hunting,  fishing  and  fowling,  and  the  others  who  are  too 
numerous  to  be  designated. 

19.   An    Inventory  of    One    of    Charlemagne's    Estates 

In  the  following  inventory  we  have  a  specimen  of  the  annual  state- 
ments required  by  Charlemagne  from  the  stewards  on  his  royal  do- 
mains. The  location  of  Asnapium  is  unknown,  but  it  is  evident  that 
this  estate  was  one  of  the  smaller  sort.  Like  all  the  rest,  it  was  liable 
occasionally  to  become  the  temporary  abiding  place  of  the  king.  The 
detailed  character  of  the  inventory  is  worthy  of  note,  as  is  also  the 
number  of  industries  which  must  have  been  engaged  in  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  estate  and  its  dependent  villas. 

Source — Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Leges  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  I., 
pp.  178-179. 

We  found  in  the  imperial  estate  of  Asnapium  a  royal  house 
_  ..,.  built  of   stone  in  the  very  best  manner,  having 

the  estate  of      3  rooms.     The  entire  house  was  surrounded  with 
balconies  and  it  had  11  apartments  for  women. 
Underneath  was   1   cellar.       There  were  2   porticoes.       There 
were  17  other  houses  built  of  wood  within  the  court-yard,  with 


128  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

a  similar  number  of  rooms  and  other  fixtures,  all  well  constructed. 
There  was  1  stable,  1  kitchen,  1  mill,  1  granary,  and  3  barns. 

The  yard  was  enclosed  with  a  hedge  and  a  stone  gateway,  and 
above  was  a  balcony  from  which  distributions  can  be  made. 
There  was  also  an  inner  yard,  surrounded  by  a  hedge,  well  ar- 
ranged, and  planted  with  various  kinds  of  trees. 

Of  vestments:  coverings  for  1  bed,  1  table-cloth,  and  1  towel. 

Of  utensils:  2  brass  kettles;  2  drinking  cups;  2  brass  cauldrons; 
1  iron  cauldron;  1  frying-pan;  1  gramalmin;  1  pair  of  andirons; 
1  lamp;  2  hatchets;  1  chisel;  2  augers;  1  axe;  1  knife;  1  large 
plane;  1  small  plane;  2  scythes;  2  sickles;  2  spades  edged  with 
iron;  and  a  sufficient  supply  of  utensils  of  wood. 

Of  farm  produce :  old  spelt *  from  last  year,  90  baskets  which 
can  be  made  into  450  weight2  of  flour;  and  100  measures3  of 
Supplies  of  barley.  From  the  present  year,  110  baskets  of 
various  sorts  spelt>  of  which  60  baskets  had  been  planted,  but 
the  rest  we  found;  100  measures  of  wheat,  60  sown,  the  rest  we 
found;  98  measures  of  rye  all  sown;  1,800  measures  of  barley, 
1,100  sown,  the  rest  we  found;  430  measures  of  oats;  1  measure 
of  beans;  12  measures  of  peas.  At  5  mills  were  found  800  meas- 
ures of  small  size.  At  4  breweries,  650  measures  of  small  size, 
240  given  to  the  prebendaries,4  the  rest  we  found.  At  2  bridges, 
60  measures  of  salt  and  2  shillings.  At  4  gardens,  11  shillings. 
Also  honey,  3  measures;  about  1  measure  of  butter;  lard,  from 
last  year  10  sides;  new  sides,  200,  with  fragments  and  fats;  cheese 
from  the  present  year,  43  weights. 

Of  cattle:  51  head  of  larger  cattle;  5  three-year  olds;  7  two- 
year  olds;  7  yearlings;    10  two-year  old  colts;  8  yearlings;  3 

1  A  kind  of  grain  still  widely  cultivated  for  food  in  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land; sometimes  known  as  German  wheat. 

2  The  unit  of  weight  was  the  .pound.  Charlemagne  replaced  the  old  Gallic 
pound  by  the  Roman,  which  was  a  tenth  less. 

3  The  unit  of  measure  was  the  muid.  Charlemagne  had  a  standard  measure 
(modius  publicus)  constructed  and  in  a  number  of  his  capitularies  enjoined 
that  it  be  taken  as  a  model  by  all  his  subjects.  It  contained  probably  a 
little  less  than  six  pecks.  A  smaller  measure  was  the  setter,  containing  about 
five  and  two-thirds  pints. 

*  Clergymen  attached  to  the  church  on  or  near  the  estate. 


INVENTORY  OF  ONE   OF  CHAHLEMAGNe's   ESTATES         120 

stallions;  16  cows;  2  asses;  50  cows  with  calves;  20  young  bulls; 
38  yearling  calves;  3  bulls;  260  hogs;  100  pigs;  5  boars;  150 
Kinds  and  num-  sheep  with  lambs;  200  yearling  lambs;  120  rams; 
ber  of  animals  30  goats  with  kids;  30  yearling  kids;  3  male  goats; 
30  geese;  80  chickens;  22  peacocks. 

Also  concerning  the  manors 1  which  belong  to  the  above  man- 
sion. In  the  villa  of  Grisio  we  found  domain  buildings,  where 
there  are  3  barns  and  a  yard  enclosed  by  a  hedge.  There  were, 
besides,  1  garden  with  trees,  10  geese,  8  ducks,  30  chickens. 

In  another  villa  we  found  domain  buildings  and  a  yard  sur- 
rounded by  a  hedge,  and  within  3  barns;  1  arpent2  of  vines;  1 
garden  with  trees;  15  geese;  20  chickens. 

In  a  third  villa,  domain  buildings,  with  2  barns;  1  granary;  1 
garden  and  1  yard  well  enclosed  by  a  hedge. 

We  found  all  the  dry  and  liquid  measures  just  as  in  the  palace. 
We  did  not  find  any  goldsmiths,  silversmiths,  blacksmiths, 
huntsmen,  or  persons  engaged  in  other  services. 

The  garden  herbs  which  we  found  were  lily,  putchuck,3  mint, 
parsley,  rue,  celery,  libesticum,  sage,  savory,  juniper,  leeks,  gar- 
Vegetables  lie,  tansy,  wild  mint,  coriander,  scullions,  onions, 
and  trees  cabbage,  kohlrabi,4 betony.5  Trees:  pears,  apples, 
medlars,  peaches,  filberts,  walnuts,  mulberries,  quinces.6 

1  "Attached  to  the  royal  villa,  in  the  center  of  which  stood  the  palace  or 
manse,  were  numerous  dependent  and  humbler  dwellings,  occupied  by  me- 
chanics, artisans,  and  tradesmen,  or  rather  manufacturers  and  craftsmen, 
in  great  numbers.  The  dairy,  the  bakery,  the  butchery,  the  brewery,  the 
flour-mill  were  there.  .  .  .  The  villa  was  a  city  in  embryo,  and  in  due 
course  it  grew  into  one,  for  as  it  supplied  in  many  respects  the  wants  of  the 
surrounding  country,  so  it  attracted  population  and  became  a  center  of 
commerce." — Jacob  I.  Mombert,  Charles  the  Great  (New  York,  1888),  pp. 
401-402. 

2  An  ancient  Gallic  land  measure,  equivalent  to  about  half  a  Roman  juge- 
rum  (the  jugerum  was  about  two-thirds  of  an  acre).  The  arpent  in  modern 
France  has  varied  greatly  in  different  localities.  In  Paris  it  is  4,088  square 
yards. 

3  The  same  as  "pachak."  The  fragrant  roots  of  this  plant  are  still  ex- 
ported from  India  to  be  used  for  burning  as  incense. 

4  A  kind  of  cabbage.  The  edible  part  is  a  large  turnip-like  swelling  of  the 
stem  above  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

5  A  plant  used  both  as  a  medicine  and  as  a  dye. 

8  "All  the  cereals  grown  in  the  country  were  cultivated.    The  flower  gar- 

Med.  Hist.— 9 


130  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

20.  Charlemagne  Crowned  Emperor  (800) 
The  occasion  of  Charlemagne's  presence  in  Rome  in  800  was  a  con- 
flict between  Pope^Leo  III,  and  a  faction  of  the  populace  led  by  two 
nephews  of  the  preceding  pope,  Hadrian  I.  It  seems  that  in  799  Leo 
had  been  practically  driven  out  of  the  papal  capital  and  imprisoned 
in  a  neighboring  monastery,  but  that  through  the  planning  of  a  sub- 
ordinate official  he  had  soon  contrived  to  escape.  At  any  rate  he  got 
out  of  Italy  as  speedily  as  he  could  and  made  his  way  across  the  Alps 
to  seek  aid  at  the  court  of  Charlemagne.  The  Frankish  king  was  still 
busy  with  the  Saxon  war  and  did  not  allow  the  prospect  of  a  papal 
visit  to  interfere  with  his  intended  campaign;  but  at  Paderborn^  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  Saxon  country,  where  he  could  personally  direct 
the  operations  of  his  troops,  he  established  his  headquarters  and  awaited 
the  coming  of  the  refugee  pope.  The  meeting  of  the  two  dignitaries 
resulted  in  a  pledge  of  the  king  once  more  to  take  up  the  burden  of 
defending  the  Roman  Church  and  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  this  time  not 
against  outside  foes  but  against  internal  disturbers.  After  about  a 
year  Charlemagne  repaired  to  Rome  and  called  upon  the  Pope  and  his 
adversaries  to  appear  before  him  for  judgment.  When  the  leaders 
of  the  hostile  faction  refused  to  comply,  they  were  summarily  con- 
demned to  death,  though  it  is  said  that  through  the  generous  advice 
of  Leo  they  were  afterwards  released  on  a  sentence  of  exile.  During 
the  ceremonies  which  followed  in  celebration  of  Christmas  occurred 
the  famous  coronation  which  is  described  in  the  two  passages  given 
below. 

Although  the  coronation  has  been  regarded  as  so  important  as  to 
have  been  called  "the  central  event  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  !  it  is  by  no 
means  an  easy  task  to  determine  precisely  what  significance  it  was 
thought  to  have  at  the  time.    We  can  look  back  upon  it  now  and  see 

dens  were  furnished  with  the  choicest  specimens  for  beauty  and  fragrance, 
the  orchards  and  kitchen  gardens  produced  the  richest  and  best  varieties 
of  fruit  and  vegetables.  Charles  specified  by  name  not  less  than  seventy- 
four  varieties  of  herbs  which  he  commanded  to  be  cultivated;  all  the  vege- 
tables still  raised  in  Central  Europe,  together  with  many  herbs  now  found 
in  botanical  gardens  only,  bloomed  on  his  villas;  his  orchards  yielded  a  rich 
harvest  in  cherries,  apples,  pears,  prunes,  peaches,  figs,  chestnuts,  and 
mulberries.  The  hill-sides  were  vineyards  laden  with  the  finest  varieties  of 
grapes." — Mombert,  Charles  the  Great,  p.  400. 

1  James  Bryce,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  (new  ed.,  New  York,  1904), 
p.  50. 


CHARLEMAGNE    CROWNED    EMPEROR  131 

that  it  marked  the  beginning  of  the  so-called  "Holy  Roman  Empire  " — 
a  creation  that  endured  in  fact  only  a  very  short  time  but  whose  name 
and  theory  survived  all  the  way  down  to  Napoleon's  reorganization  of 
the  German  states  in  1806.  One  view  of  the  matter  is  that  Charle- 
magne's coronation  meant  that  a  Frankish  king  had  become  the  suc- 
cessor of  Emperor  Constantine  VI.,  just  deposed  at  Constantinople, 
and  that  therefore  the  universal  Roman  Empire  was  again  to  be  ruled 
from  a  western  capital  as  it  had  been  before  the  time  of  the  first  Con- 
stantine. It  will  be  observed  that  extract  (a),  taken  from  the  Annals 
of  Lauresheim,  and  therefore  of  German  origin,  at  least  suggests  this 
explanation.  But,  whether  or  not  precisely  this  idea  was  in  the  mind 
of  those  who  took  part  in  the  ceremony,  in  actual  fact  no  such  transfer 
of  universal  sovereignty  from  Constantinople  to  the  Frankish  capital 
ever  took  place.  The  Eastern  Empire  lived  right  on  under  its  own 
line  of  rulers  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  aside  from  some  rather  vague 
negotiations  for  a  marriage  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Empress  Irene, 
the  new  western  Emperor  seems  never  to  have  contemplated  the  ex- 
tension of  his  authority  over  the  East.  His  great  aspiration  had  been 
to  consolidate  all  the  Germanic  peoples  of  western  continental  Europe 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Franks;  that,  by  800,  he  had  practically  done; 
he  had  no  desire  to  go  farther.  His  dominion  was  always  limited  strictly 
to  the  West,  and  at  the  most  he  can  be  regarded  after  800  as  not  more 
than  the  reviver  of  the  old  western  half  of  the  Empire,  and  hence  as 
the  successor  of  Romulus  August ulus.  But  even  this  view  is  perhaps 
somewhat  strained.  The  chroniclers  of  the  time  liked  to  set  up  fine 
theories  of  the  sort,  and  later  it  came  to  be  to  the  interest  of  papal  and 
imperial  rivals  to  make  large  use,  in  one  way  or  another,  of  such  theo- 
ries. But  we  to-day  may  look  upon  the  coronation  as  nothing  more 
than  a  formal  recognition  of  a  condition  of  things  already  existing. 
By  his  numerous  conquests  Charlemagne  had  drawn  under  his  control 
such  a  number  of  peoples  and  countries  that  his  position  had  come  to 
be  that  which  we  think  of  as  an  emperor's  rather  than  that  of  simple 
king  of  the  Franks.  The  Pope  did  not  give  Charlemagne  his  empire ; 
the  energetic  king  had  built  it  for  himself.  At  the  most,  what  Leo  did 
was  simply  to  bestow  a  title  already  earned  and  to  give  with  it  presum- 
ably the  blessing  and  favor  of  the  Church,  whose  devoted  servant 
Charlemagne  repeatedly  professed  to  be.     That  the  idea  of  imperial 


132  THE  AGE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

unity  still  survived  in  the  West  is  certain,  and  without  doubt  many 
men  looked  upon  the  ceremony  of  800  as  re-establishing  such  unity; 
but  as  events  worked  out  it  was  not  so  much  Charlemagne's  empire 
as  the  papacy  itself  that  was  the  real  continuation  of  the  power  of  the 
Caesars.  Conditions  had  so  changed  that  it  was  impossible  in  the 
nature  of  things  for  Charlemagne  to  be  a  Roman  emperor  in  the  old 
sense.  The  coronation  gave  him  a  new  title  and  new  prestige,  but 
no  new  subjects,  no  larger  army,  no  more  princely  income.  The  basis 
of  his  power  continued  to  be,  in  every  sense,  his  Frankish  kingdom. 
The  structural  element  in  the  revived  empire  was  Frankish;  the  Roman 
was  merely  ornamental. 

Sources — (a)  Annates  Laureshamensis  ["Annals  of  Lauresheim"],  Chap.  34. 
Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.), 
Vol.  I.,  p.  38. 

(b)  Vitce  Pontificorum  Romanorum  ["  Lives  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  "]. 
Text  in  Muratori,  Rerum  Italicarum  Scriptores,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  284- 
285. 

(a) 

And  because  the  name  of  emperor  had  now  ceased  among  the 
Greeks,  and  their  empire  was  possessed  by  a  woman,1  it  seemed 
both  to  Leo  the  pope  himself,  and  to  all  the  holy  fathers  who 
were  p'vent  in  the  self-same  council,2  as  well  as  to  the  rest  of 
the  Christian  people,  that  they  ought  to  take  to  be  emperor 
Charles,  king  of  the  Franks,  who  held  Rome  herself,  where  the 
Caesars  had  always  been  wont  to  sit,  and  all  the  other  regions 

i  Irene,  the  wife  of  Emperor  Leo  IV.  After  the  death  of  her  husband  in 
780  she  became  regent  during  the  minority  of  her  son,  Constantine  VI.,  then 
only  nine  years  of  age.  In  790  Constantine  succeeded  in  taking  the  govern- 
ment out  of  her  hands;  but  seven  years  afterwards  she  caused  him  to  be 
blinded  and  shut  up  in  a  dungeon,  where  he  soon  died.  The  revolting  crimes 
by  which  Irene  established  her  supremacy  at  Constantinople  were  considered, 
even  in  her  day,  a  disgrace  to  Christendom. 

2  This  expression  has  given  rise  to  a  view  which  will  be  found  in  some 
books  that  Pope  Leo  convened  a  general  council  of  Frankish  and  Italian 
clergy  to  consider  the  advisability  of  giving  the  imperial  title  to  Charle- 
magne. The  whole  matter  is  in  doubt,  but  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  there 
was  any  such  formal  deliberation.  Leo  certainly  ascertained  that  the  leading 
lay  and  ecclesiastical  magnates  would  approve  the  contemplated  step,  but 
that  a  definite  election  in  council  took  place  may  be  pretty  confidently  de- 
nied. The  writer  of  the  Annals  of  Lauresheim  was  interested  in  making  the 
case  of  Charlemagne,  and  therefore  of  the  later  emperors,  as  strong  as  possi- 
ble. 


CHARLEMAGNE   CROWNED   EMPEROR  133 

which  he  ruled  through  Italy  and  Gaul  and  Germany;  and  inas- 
much as  God  had  given  all  these  lands  into  his  hand,  it  seemed 
right  that  with  the  help  of  God,  and  at  the  prayer  of  the  whole 
Christian  people,  he  should  have  the  name  of  emperor  also. 
[The  Pope's]  petition  King  Charles  willed  not  to  refuse,1  but  sub- 
mitting himself  with  all  humility  to  God,  and  at  the  prayer  of 
the  priests,  and  of  the  whole  Christian  people,  on  the  day  of  the 
nativity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  took  on  himself  the  name 
of  emperor,  being  consecrated  by  the  Pope  Leo.  .  .  .  For 
this  also  was  done  by  the  will  of  God  .  .  .  that  the  heathen 
might  not  mock  the  Christians  if  the  name  of  emperor  should 
have  ceased  among  them. 

(b) 

After  these  things,  on  the  day  of  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  when  all  the  people  were  assembled  in  the  Church  of  the 
blessed  St.  Peter,2  the  venerable  and  gracious  Pope  with  his  own 
hands  crowned  him  [Charlemagne]  with  an  exceedingly  precious 
crown.  Then  all  the  faithful  Romans,  beholding  the  choice  of 
such  a  friend  and  defender  of  the  holy  Roman  Church,  and  of 

1  Einhard,  Charlemagne's  biographer,  says  that  the  king  at  first  had  such 
aversion  to  the  titles  of  Emperor  and  Augustus  "  that  he  declared  he  would 
not  have  set  foot  in  the  church  the  day  that  they  were  conferred,  although 
it  was  a  great  feast-day,  if  he  could  have  foreseen  the  design  of  the  Pope" 
(Vita  Caroli  Magni,  Chap.  28).  Despite  this  statement,  however,  we  are  not 
to  regard  the  coronation  as  a  genuine  surprise  to  anybody  concerned.  In 
all  probability  there  had  previously  been  a  more  or  less  definite  understand- 
ing between  the  king  and  the  Pope  that  in  due  time  the  imperial  title  should 
be  conferred.  It  is  easy  to  believe,  though,  that  Charlemagne  had  had  no 
idea  that  the  ceremony  was  to  be  performed  on  this  particular  occasion  and 
it  is  likely  enough  that  he  had  plans  of  his  own  as  to  the  proper  time  and 
place  for  it,  plans  which  Leo  rather  rudely  interfered  with,  but  which  the 
manifest  good-will  of  everybody  constrained  the  king  to  allow  to  be  sacri- 
ficed. It  may  well  be  that  Charlemagne  had  decided  simply  to  assume  the 
imperial  crown  without  a  papal  coronation  at  all,  in  order  that  the  whole 
question  of  papal  supremacy,  which  threatened  to  be  a  troublesome  one, 
might  be  kept  in  the  background. 

2  The  celebration  of  the  Nativity  was  by  far  the  greatest  festival  of  the 
Church.  At  this  season  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome  was  the  scene  of 
gorgeous  ceremonials,  and  to  its  sumptuous  shrine  thronged  the  devout  of 
all  Christendom.  Its  magnificence  on  the  famous  Christmas  of  800  was 
greater  than  ever,  for  only  recently  Charlemagne  had  bestowed  the  most 
costly  of  all  his  gifts  upon  it — the  spoils  of  the  Avar  wars. 


134  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

the  pontiff,  did  by  the  will  of  God  and  of  the  blessed  Peter,  the 
key-bearer  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  cry  with  a  loud  voice,  "To 
Charles,  the  most  pious  Augustus,  crowned  of  God,  the  great  and 
peace-giving  Emperor,  be  life  and  victory."  While  he,  before 
the  altar  of  the  church,  was  calling  upon  many  of  the  saints,  it 
was  proclaimed  three  times,  and  by  the  common  voice  of  all  he 
was  chosen  to  be  emperor  of  the  Romans.  Then  the  most  holy 
high  priest  and  pontiff  anointed  Charles  with  holy  oil,  and  also 
his  most  excellent  son  to  be  king,1  upon  the  very  day  of  the  birth 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

21.   The    General    Capitulary   for   the    Missi    (802) 

Throughout  the  larger  part  of  Charlemagne's  dominion  the  chief 
local  unit  of  administration  was  the  county,  presided  over  by  the  count. 
The  count  was  appointed  by  the  Emperor,  generally  from  among  the 
most  important  landed  proprietors  of  the  district.  His  duties  included 
the  levy  of  troops,  the  publication  of  the  royal  decrees  or  capitularies, 
the  administration  of  justice,  and  the  collection  of  revenues.  On  the 
frontiers,  where  the  need  of  defense  was  greatest,  these  local  officers 
exercised  military  functions  of  a  special  character  and  were  commonly 
known  as  "counts  of  the  march,"  or  dukes,  or  sometimes  as  margraves. 
In  order  that  these  royal  officials,  in  whatever  part  of  the  country, 
might  not  abuse  their  authority  as  against  their  fellow-subjects,  or 
engage  in  plots  against  the  unity  of  the  empire,  Charlemagne  devised  a 
plan  of  sending  out  at  stated  intervals  men  who  were  known  as  missi 
dominiti  ("the  lord's  messengers")  to  visit  the  various  counties,  hear 
complaints  of  the  people,  inquire  into  the  administration  of  the  counts, 
and  report  conditions  to  the  Emperor.  They  were  to  serve  as  connecting 
links  between  the  central  and  local  governments  and  as  safeguards 
against  the  ever  powerful  forces  of  disintegration.  Such  itinerant 
royal  agents  had  not  been  unknown  in  Merovingian  times,  and  they 
had  probably  been  made  use  of  pretty  frequently  by  Charles  Martel 

i  Charles,  the  eldest  son,  since  789  king  of  Maine.  In  reality,  of  course, 
he  was  but  an  under-king,  since  Maine  was  an  integral  part  of  Charlemagne's 
dominion.  He  was  anointed  by  Pope  Leo  in  800  as  heir-apparent  to  the  new 
imperial  dignity  of  his  father. 


THE   GENERAL   CAPITULARY   FOR  THE   MISSI  135 

and  Pepin  the  Short.  But  it  was  Charlemagne  who  reduced  the  em- 
ployment of  missi  to  a  system  and  made  it  a  fixed  part  of  the  govern- 
mental machinery  of  the  Frankish  kingdom.  This  he  did  mainly  by 
the  Capitulare  Missorum  Generate,  promulgated  early  in  802  at  an 
assembly  at  the  favorite  capital  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  whole  empire 
was  divided  into  districts,  or  missaticce,  and  each  of  these  was  to  be 
visited  annually  by  two  of  the  missi.  A  churchman  and  a  layman 
were  usually  sent  out  together,  probably  because  they  were  to  have 
jurisdiction  over  both  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  and  also  that  they 
might  restrain  each  other  from  injustice  or  other  misconduct.  They 
were  appointed  by  the  Emperor,  at  first  from  his  lower  order  of  vassals, 
but  after  a  time  from  the  leading  bishops,  abbots,  and  nobles  of  the 
empire.  They  were  given  power  to  depose  minor  officials  for  mis- 
demeanors, and  to  summon  higher  ones  before  the  Emperor.  By  812, 
at  least,  they  were  required  to  make  four  rounds  of  inspection  each 
year. 

In  the  capitulary  for  the  missi  Charlemagne  took  occasion  to  include 
a  considerable  number  of  regulations  and  instructions  regarding  the 
general  character  of  the  local  governments,  the  conduct  of  local  officers, 
the  manner  of  life  of  the  clergy,  the  management  of  the  monasteries, 
and  other  things  of  vital  importance  to  the  strength  of  the  empire 
and  the  well-being  of  the  people.  The  capitulary  may  be  regarded  as 
a  broad  outline  of  policy  and  conduct  which  its  author,  lately  become 
emperor,  wished  to  see  realized  throughout  his  vast  dominion. 


Source — Text  in  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica,  Leges  (Boretius  ed.),  Vol.  I... 
No.  33,  pp.  91-99.  Translated  by  Dana  C.  Munro  in  Univ.  of 
Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  VI. ,  No.  5,  pp.  16-27. 


1.  Concerning  the  embassy  sent  out  by  the  lord  emperor. 

Therefore,  the  most  serene  and  most  Christian  lord  emperor 
Charles  has  chosen  from  his  nobles  the  wisest  and  most  prudent 
The  missi  men,  both  archbishops  and  some  of  the  other 

sent  out  bishops   also,   and   venerable   abbots   and   pious 

laymen,  and  has  sent  them  throughout  his  whole  kingdom,  and 
through  them  he  would  have  all  the  various  classes  of  persons 
mentioned  in  the  following  chapters  live  in  accordance  with 


136  THE   AGE   OF   CHAKLEMAGNE 

•the  correct  law.  Moreover,  where  anything  which  is  not  right 
and  just  has  been  enacted  in  the  law,  he  has  ordered  them  to 
inquire  into  this  most  diligently  and  to  inform  him  of  it.  He 
desires,  God  granting,  to  reform  it.  And  let  no  one,  through  his 
cleverness  or  craft,  dare  to  oppose  or  thwart  the  written  law,  as 
many  are  wont  to  do,  or  the  judicial  sentence  passed  upon  him, 
or  to  do  injury  to  the  churches  of  God,  or  the  poor,  or  the  widows, 
or  the  wards,  or  any  Christian.  But  all  shall  live  entirely  in 
accordance  with  God's  precept,  honestly  and  under  a  just  rule, 
and  each  one  shall  be  admonished  to  live  in  harmony  with  his 
fellows  in  his  business  or  profession;  the  canonical  clergy1  ought 
to  observe  in  every  respect  a  canonical  life  without  heeding  base 
gain;  nuns  ought  to  keep  diligent  watch  over  their  lives;  laymen 
and  the  secular  clergy  2  ought  rightly  to  observe  their  laws  with- 
out malicious  fraud;  and  all  ought  to  live  in  mutual  charity  and 
perfect  peace. 

And  let  the  missi  themselves  make  a  diligent  investigation 
whenever  any  man  claims  that  an  injustice  has  been  done  him 
by  any  one,  just  as  they  desire  to  deserve  the  grace  of  omnipotent 
God  and  to  keep  their  fidelity  promised  to  Him,  so  that  in  all 
cases,  in  accordance  with  the  will  and  fear  of  God,  they  shall 
administer  the  law  fully  and  justly  in  the  case  of  the  holy  churches 
of  God  and  of  the  poor,  of  wards  and  widows,  and  of  the  whole 
people.  And  if  there  be  anything  of  such  a  nature  that  they, 
The  duties  together  with  the  provincial  counts,  are  not  able 

of  the  missi  0f  themselves  to  correct  it  and  to  do  justice 
concerning  it,  they  shall,  without  any  reservation,  refer  it,  to- 
gether with  their  reports,  to  the  judgment  of  the  emperor;  and 

iThe  terra  "canonical"  was  applied  more  particularly  to  the  clergy 
attached  to  a  cathedral  church,  the  clergy  being  known  individually  as 
" canons,"  collectively  asa" chapter."  In  the  present  connection,  however, 
it  probably  refers  to  the  monks,  who,  living  as  they  did  by  "canons"  or 
rules,  were  in  that  sense  "  canonical  clergy." 

2  The  secular  clergy  were  the  bishops,  priests,  deacons,  and  other  church 
officers,  who  lived  with  the  people  in  the  soeculum,  or  world,  as  distinguished 
from  the  monks,  ascetics,  cenobites,  anchorites,  and  others,  who  dwelt  in 
monasteries  or  other  places  of  seclusion. 


THE   GENERAL   CAPITULARY   FOR   THE   MISSI  137 

the  straight  path  of  justice  shall  not  be  impeded  by  any  one  on 
account  of  flattery  or  gifts,  or  on  account  of  any  relationship, 
or  from  fear  of  the  powerful.1 

2.  Concerning  the  fidelity  to  be  promised  to  the  lord  emperor. 
He  has  commanded  that  every  man  in  his  whole  kingdom, 

whether  ecclesiastic  or  layman,  and  each  one  according  to  his 
Oath  to  vow  and  occupation,  should  now  promise  to  him 

Charlemagne  as  emPeror  tne  fidelity  which  he  had  previously 
as  emperor  promised  to  him  as  king;  and  all  of  those  who  had 
not  yet  made  that  promise  should  do  likewise,  down  to  those 
who  were  twelve  years  old.  And  that  it  shall  be  announced  to 
all  in  public,  so  that  each  one  might  know,  how  great  and  how 
many  things  are  comprehended  in  that  oath;  not  merely,  as  many 
have  thought  hitherto,  fidelity  to  the  lord  emperor  as  regards  his 
life,  and  not  introducing  any  enemy  into  his  kingdom  out  of 
enmity,  and  not  consenting  to  or  concealing  another's  faithless- 
ness to  him;  but  that  all  may  know  that  this  oath  contains  in 
itself  the  following  meaning: 

3.  First,  that  each  one  voluntarily  shall  strive,  in  accordance 

with  his  knowledge  and  ability,  to  live  completely  in  the  holy 

Wh  t  th  service  of  God,  in  accordance  with  the  precept 

new  oath  of  God  and  in  accordance  with  his  own  promise, 

was  to  mean       ,  ,,      ,      ,  ,, 

because  the  lord  emperor  is  unable  to  give  to 

all  individually  the  necessary  care  and  discipline. 

4.  Secondly,  that  no  man,  either  through  perjury  or  any 
other  wile  or  fraud,  or  on  account  of  the  flattery  or  gift  of  any 
one,  shall  refuse  to  give' back  or  dare  to  take  possession  of  or 
conceal  a  serf  of  the  lord  emperor,  or  a  district,  or  land,  or  any- 
thing that  belongs  to  him;  and  that  no  one  shall  presume,  through 
perjury  or  other  wile,  to  conceal  or  entice  away  his  fugitive  fis- 

1  This  is  really  as  splendid  a  guarantee  of  equality  before  the  law  as  is  to 
be  found  in  Magna  Charta  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Un- 
fortunately there  was  not  adequate  machinery  in  the  Frankish  government 
to  enforce  it,  though  we  may  suppose  that  while  the  missi  continued  efficient 
(which  was  not  more  than  a  hundred  years)  considerable  progress  was  made 
in  this  direction. 


138  the  Age  «of  charlemagne 

caline  serfs  *  who  unjustly  and  fraudulently  say  that  they  are 
free. 

5.  That  no  one  shall  presume  to  rob  or  do  any  injury  fraudu- 
lently to  the  churches  of  God,  or  widows,  or  orphans,  or  pilgrims;2 
for  the  lord  emperor  himself,  under  God  and  His  saints,  has  con- 
stituted himself  their  protector  and  defender. 

6.  That  no  one  shall  dare  to  lay  waste  a  benefice  3  of  the  lord 
emperor,  or  to  make  it  his  own  property.  . 

7.  That  no  one  shall  presume  to  neglect  a  summons  to  war 
from  the  lord  emperor;  and  that  no  one  of  the  counts  shall  be  so 
presumptuous  as  to  dare  to  excuse  any  one  of  those  who  owe 
military  service,  either  on  account  of  relationship,  or  flattery,  or 
gifts  from  any  one. 

8.  That  no  one  shall  presume  to  impede  at  all  in  any  way 
a  ban  4  or  command  of  the  lord  emperor,  or  to  tamper  with  his 
work,  or  to  impede,  or  to  lessen,  or  in  any  way  to  act  contrary 
to  his  will  or  commands.  And  that  no  one  shall  dare  to  neglect 
to  pay  his  dues  or  tax. 

9.  That  no  one,  for  any  reason,  shall  make  a  practice  in  court 

of  defending  another  unjustly,  either  from  any  desire  of  gain 

when  the  cause  is  weak,  or  by  impeding  a  just  judgment  by  his 

skill  in  reasoning,  or  by  a  desire  of  oppressing  when  the  cause  is 

_    ..  weak.     But  each  one  shall  answer  for  his  own 

Justice  to 

be  rendered        cause  or  tax  or  debt,  unless  any  one  is  infirm  or 

ignorant  of  pleading;5  for  these  the  missi,  or  the 

chiefs  who  are  in  the  court,  or  the  judge  who  knows  the  case  in 

question,  shall  plead  before  the  court;  or,  if  it  is  necessary,  such 

1  Serfs  who  worked  on  the  fiscal  lands,  or,  in  other  words,  on  the  royal 


2  Compare  chapters  14  and  27. 

3  A  benefice,  as  the  term  is  here  used,  was  land  granted  by  the  Emperor 
to  a  friend  or  dependent.  The  holder  was  to  use  such  land  on  stated  terms 
for  his  own  and  the  Emperor's  gain,  but  was  in  no  case  to  claim  ownership 
of  it. 

1  The  word  has  at  least  three  distinct  meanings — a  royal  edict,  a  judicial 
fine,  and  a  territorial  jurisdiction.    It  is  here  used  in  the  Bret  of  these  senses. 

r>  There  was  little  room  under  Charlemagne's  system  for  professional 
lawyers  or  advocates. 


THE   GENERAL   CAPITULARY   FOR  THE   MISSI  139 

a  person  may  be  allowed  as  is  acceptable  to  all  and  knows  the 
case  well;  but  this  shall  be  done  wholly  according  to  the  con- 
venience of  the  chiefs  or  missi  who  are  present.  But  in  every 
case  it  shall  be  done  in  accordance  with  justice  and  the  law;  and 
no  one  shall  have  the  power  to  impede  justice  by  a  gift,  reward, 
or  any  kind  of  evil  flattery,  or  from  any  hindrance  of  relationship. 
And  no  one  shall  unjustly  consent  to  another  in  anything,  but 
with  all  zeal  and  good-will  all  shall  be  prepared  to  carry  out 
justice. 

For  all  the  above  mentioned  ought  to  be  observed  by  the  im- 
perial oath.1 

10.  [We  ordain]  that  bishops  and  priests  shall  live  according 
to  the  canons  2  and  shall  teach  others  to  do  the  same. 

11.  That  bishops,  abbots,  and  abbesses  who  are  in  charge  of 
others,  with  the  greatest  veneration  shall  strive  to  surpass  their 
Obligations  subjects  in  this  diligence  and  shall  not  oppress 
of  the  clergy  their  subjects  with  a  harsh  rule  or  tyranny,  but 
with  a  sincere  love  shall  carefully  guard  the  flock  committed  to 
them  with  mercy  and  charity,  or  by  the  examples  of  good  works. 

14.  That  bishops,  abbots  and  abbesses,  and  counts  shall  be 
mutually  in  accord,  following  the  law  in  order  to  render  a  just 
judgment  with  all  charity  and  unity  of  peace,  and  that  they  shall 
live  faithfully  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God,  so  that  always 
everywhere  through  them  and  among  them  a  just  judgment 
shall  be  rendered.  The  poor,  widows,  orphans,  and  pilgrims 
shall  have  consolation  and  defense  from  them;  so  that  we, 
through  the  good-will  of  these,  may  deserve  the  reward  of  eternal 
life  rather  than  punishment. 

19.  That  no  bishops,  abbots,  priests,  deacons,  or  other  mem- 
bers of  the  clergy  shall  presume  to  have  dogs  for  hunting,  or 
hawks,  falcons,  and  sparrow-hawks,  but  each  shall  observe  fully 

1  In  other  words,  when  the  oath  of  allegiance  is  taken,  as  it  must  be  by 
every  man  and  boy  above  the  age  of  twelve,  all  the  obligations  mentioned 
from  Chap.  3  to  Chap.  9  are  to  be  considered  as  assumed  along  with  that 
of  fidelity  to  the  person  and  government  of  the  Emperor. 

2  That  is,  the  laws  of  the  Church. 


140  THE   AGE   OP  CHARLEMAGNE 

the  canons  or  rule  of  his  order.1  If  any  one  shall  presume  to  do 
so,  let  him  know  that  he  shall  lose  his  office.  And  in  addition  he 
shall  suffer  such  punishment  for  his  misconduct  that  the  others 
will  be  afraid  to  possess  such  things  for  themselves. 

27.  And  we  command  that  no  one  in  our  whole  kingdom  shall 
dare  to  deny  hospitality  to  rich,  or  poor,  or  pilgrims;  that  is,  let 
no  one  deny  shelter  and  fire  and  water  to  pilgrims  traversing 
our  country  in  God's  name,  or  to  any  one  traveling  for  the  love 
of  God,  or  for  the  safety  of  his  own  soul. 

28.  Concerning  embassies  coming  from  the  lord  emperor. 
That  the  counts  and  centenarii 2  shall  provide  most  carefully,  as 
The  missi  ^ey  desire  tne  good-will  of  the  lord  emperor,  for 
to  be  helped       the  missi  who  are  sent  out,  so  that  they  may  go 

through  their  territories  without  any  delay;  and 
the  emperor  commands  all  everywhere  that  they  see  to  it  that  no 
delay  is  encountered  anywhere,  but  they  shall  cause  the  missi  to 
go  on  their  way  in  all  haste  and  shall  provide  for  them  in  such  a 
manner  as  they  may  direct. 

32.  Murders,  by  which  a  multitude  of  the  Christian  people 
perish,  we  command  in  every  way  to  be  shunned  and  to  be 
The  crime  forbidden.     .     .     .     Nevertheless,  lest  sin  should 

of  murder  ajso  jncrease)  jn  order  that  the  greatest  enmities 

may  not  arise  among  Christians,  when  by  the  persuasions  of 
the  devil  murders  happen,  the  criminal  shall  immediately 
hasten  to  make  amends  and  with  all  speed  shall  pay  to  the  rela- 
tives of  the  murdered  man  the  fitting  composition  for  the  evil 
done.  And  we  forbid  firmly  that  the  relatives  of  the  murdered 
man  shall  dare  in  any  way  to  continue  their  enmities  on  account 
of  the  evil  done,  or  shall  refuse  to  grant  peace  to  him  who  asks  it, 
but,  having  given  their  pledges,  they  shall  receive  the  fitting  com- 

1  One  of  the  greatest  temptations  of  the  mediaeval  clergy  was  to  spend 
time  in  hunting,  to  the  neglect  of  religious  duties.  Apparentljgthis  evil  was 
pretty  common  in  Charlemagne's  day. 

2  The  centenarii  were  minor  local  officials*  subordinate  to  the  counts, 
and  confined  in  authority  to  their  particular  district  or  "hundred." 


LETTER   OF    CHARLEMAGNE    TO   ABBOT   FULRAD  141 

position  and  shall  make  a  perpetual  peace;  moreover,  the  guilty 
one  shall  not  delay  to  pay  the  composition.1  .  .  .  But  if  any 
one  shall  have  scorned  to  make  the  fitting  composition,  he  shall 
be  deprived  of  his  property  until  we  shall  render  our  decision.2 

39.  That  in  our  forests  no  one  shall  dare  to  steal  our  game, 
which  we  have  already  many  times  forbidden  to  be  done;  and 
Th  .  „  now  we  again  strictly  florbid  that  any  one  shall 
from  the  royal  do  so  in  the  future;  just  as  each  one  desires  to 

preserve  the  fidelity  promised  to  us,  so  let  him 
take  heed  to  himself.     .     .     . 

40.  Lastly,  therefore,  we  desire  all  our  decrees  to  be  known 
in  the  whole  kingdom  through  our  missi  now  sent  out,  either 
among  the  men  of  the  Church,  bishops,  abbots,  priests,  deacons, 
canons,  all  monks  or  nuns,  so  that  each  one  in  his  ministry  or 
profession  may  keep  our  ban  or  decree,  or  where  it  may  be  fitting 
to  thank  the  citizens  for  their  good-will,  or  to  furnish  aid,  or 
where  there  may  be  need  still  of  correcting  anything.  .  .  . 
Where  we  believe  there  is  anything  unpunished,  we  shall  so  strive 
to  correct  it  with  all  our  zeal  and  will  that  with  God's  aid  we 
may  bring  it  to  correction,  both  for  our  own  eternal  glory  and 
that  of  all  our  faithful. 

22.   A  Letter  of  Charlemagne  to  Abbot  Fulrad 

In  Charlemagne's  governmental  and  military  system  the  clergy, 
both  regular  and  secular,  had'  a  place  of  large  importance.  From  early 
Frankish  times  the  bishoprics  and  monasteries  had  been  acquiring 

1  In  the  Frankish  kingdom,  as  commonly  among  Germanic  peoples  of 
the  period,  murder  not  only  might  be,  but  was  expected  to  be,  atoned  for 
by  a  money  payment  to  the  slain  man's  relatives.  The  payment,  known  as 
the  wergeld,  would  vary  according  to  the  rank  of  the  man  killed.  If  it  were 
properly  made,  such  "composition"  was  bound  to  be  accepted  as  complete 
reparation  for  the  injury.  In  this  regulation  we  can  discern  a  distinct  ad- 
vance over  the  old  system  of  blood-feud  under  which  a  murder  almost  in- 
variably led  to  family  and  clan  wars.  Plainly  the  Franks  were  becoming 
more  civilized. 

2  If  a  mur<$|rer  refused  to  pay  the  required  composition  his  property  was 
to  be  taken  possession  of  by  the  Emperor's  officers  and  the  case  must  be  laid 
before  the  Emperor  himself.  If  the  latter  chose,  he  might  order  the  restora- 
tion of  the  property,  but  this  he  was  not  likely  to  do. 


142  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

large  landed  estates  on  which  they  enjoyed  peculiar  political  and 
judicial  privileges.  These  lands  came  to  the  church  authorities  partly 
by  purchase,  largely  by  gift,  and  not  infrequently  through  concessions 
by  small  land-holders  who  wished  to  get  the  Church's  favor  and  pro- 
tection without  actually  moving  off  the  little  farms  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  cultivate.  However  acquired,  the  lands  were  admin- 
istered by  the  clergy  with  larger  independence  than  was  apt  to  be  al- 
lowed the  average  lay  owner.  Still,  they  were  as  much  a  part  of  the 
empire  as  before  and  the  powerful  bishops  and  abbots  were  expected  to 
see  that  certain  services  were  forthcoming  when  the  Emperor  found  him- 
self in  need  of  them.  Among  these  was  the  duty  of  leading,  or  sending, 
a  quota  of  troops  under  arms  to  the  yearly  assembly.  In  the  selec- 
tion below  we  have  a  letter  written  by  Charlemagne  some  time  between 
804  and  811  to  Fulrad,  abbot  of  St.  Quentin  (about  sixty  miles  north- 
east of  Paris),  respecting  the  fulfilment  of  this  important  obligation. 
The  closing  sentence  indicates  very  clearly  the  price  exacted  by  the 
Emperor  in  return  for  concessions  of  temporal  authority  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal magnates. 

Source — Text  in  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica,  Leges  (Boretius  ed.) ,  Vol.  I. , 
No.  75,  p.  168. 

In  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  Charles, 
most  serene,  august,  crowned  of  God,  great  pacific  Emperor, 
who,  by  God's  mercy,  is  King  of  the  Franks  and  Lombards,  to 
Abbot  Fulrad. 

Let  it  be  known  to  you  that  we  have  determined  to  hold  our 
general  assembly 1  this  year  in  the  eastern  part  of  Saxony,  on  the 
River  Bode,  at  the  place  which  is  known  as  Strassfurt.2    There- 

1  Beginning  with  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  there  were  really  two  assem- 
blies each  year — one  in  the  spring,  the  other  in  the  autumn;  but  the  one  in 
the  spring,  the  so-called  "May-field,"  was  much  the  more  important.  All 
the  nobles  and  higher  clergy  attended,  and  if  a  campaign  was  in  prospect  all 
who  owed  military  service  would  be  called  upon  to  bring  with  them  their 
portion  of  the  war-host,  with  specified  supplies.  Charlemagne  proposed  all 
measures,  the  higher  magnates  discussed  them  with  him,  and  the  lower  ones 
gave  a  perfunctory  sanction  to  acts  already  determined  upon.  The  meeting 
place  was  changed  from  year  to  year,  being  rotated  irregularly  amoii£  the 
royal  residences,  as  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Paderborn,  Ingelheim,  afid  Thionville; 
occasionally  they  were  held,  as  in  this  instance,  in  places  otherwise  almost 
unknown. 

2  Strassfurt  was  some  distance  south  of  Magdeburg. 


LETTER  OF  CHARLEMAGNE  TO  ABBOT  FULRAD     143 

fore,  we  enjoin  that  you  come  to  this  meeting-place,  with  all  your 
men  well  armed  and  equipped,  on  the  fifteenth  day  before  the 
Kalends  of  July,  that  is,  seven  days  before  the  festival  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist.1  Come,  therefore,  so  prepared  with  your  men 
to  the  aforesaid  place  that  you  may  be  able  to  go  thence  well 
equipped  in  any  direction  in  which  our  command  shall  direct; 
that  is,  with  arms  and  accoutrements  also,  and  other  provisions 
The  troops  for  war  in  the  way  of  food  and  clothing.  Each 
their  equSf-  horseman  will  be  expected  to  have  a  shield,  a 
ment  lance,  a  sword,  a  dagger,  a  bow,  and  quivers  with 

arrows;  and  in  your  carts  shall  be  implements  of  various  kinds, 
that  is,  axes,  planes,  augers,  boards,  spades,  iron  shovels,  and 
other  utensils  which  are  necessary  in  an  army.  In  the  wagons 
also  should  be  supplies  of  food  for  three  months,  dating  from  the 
time  of  the  assembly,  together  with  arms  and  clothing  for  six 
months.  And  furthermore  we  command  that  you  see  to  it  that 
you  proceed  peacefully  to  the  aforesaid  place,  through  whatever 
part  of  our  realm  your  journey  shall  be  made;  that  is,  that  you 
presume  to  take  nothing  except  fodder,  wood,  and  water.  And 
let  the  followers  of  each  one  of  your  vassals  march  along  with  the 
carts  and  horsemen,  and  let  the  leader  always  be  with  them 
until  they  reach  the  aforesaid  place,  so  that  the  absence  of  a 
lord  may  not  give  to  his  men  an  opportunity  to  do  evil. 

Send  your  gifts,2  which  you  ought  to  present  to  us  at  our 
assembly  in  the  middle  of  the  month  of  May,  to  the  place  where 
Gifts  for  we  then  shall  be.    If  it  happens  that  your  journey 

the  Emperor  shaii  \ye  sucj1  ^hat  on  your  march  you  are  able 
in  person  to  present  these  gifts  of  yours  to  us,  we  shall  be  greatly 


1  The  date  of  the  festival  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  was  June  22. 

2  From  earliest  Germanic  times  we  catch  glimpses  of  this  practice  of 
requiring  gifts  from  a  king's  subjects.  By  Charlemagne's  day  it  had 
crystallized  into  an  established  custom  and  was  a  very  important  source  of 
revenue,  though  other  sources  had  been  opened  up  which  were  quite  unknown 
to  the  German  sovereigns  of  three  or  four  hundred  years  before.  Ordinarily 
these  gifts,  in  money,  jewels,  or  provisions,  were  presented  to  the  sovereign 
each  year  at  the  May  assembly. 


144  THE   AGE  OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

pleased.     Be  careful  to  show  no  negligence  in  the  future  if  you 
care  to  have  our  favor. 


23.    The  Carolingian  Revival  of  Learning 

One  of  Charlemagne's  chief  claims  to  distinction  is  that  his  reign, 
largely  through  his  own  influence,  comprised  the  most  important 
period  of  the  so-called  Carolingian  renaissance,  or  revival  of  learning. 
From  the  times  of  the  Frankish  conquest  of  Gaul  until  about  the  middle 
of  the  eighth  century,  education  in  western  Europe,  except  in  Ireland 
and  Britain,  was  at  a  very  low  ebb  and  literary  production  quite  in- 
significant. The  old  Roman  intellectual  activity  had  nearly  ceased, 
and  two  or  three  centuries  of  settled  life  had  been  required  to  bring 
the  Franks  to  the  point  of  appreciating  and  encouraging  art  and  letters. 
Even  by  Charlemagne's  time  people  generally  were  far  from  being 
awake  to  the  importance  of  education,  though  a  few  of  the  more  far- 
sighted  leaders,  and  especially  Charlemagne  himself,  had  come  to 
lament  the  gross  ignorance  which  everywhere  prevailed  and  were 
ready  to  adopt  strong  measures  to  overcome  it.  Charlemagne  was 
certainly  no  scholar,  judged  even  by  the  standards  of  his  own 
time;  but  had  he  been  the  most  learned  man  in  the  world  his  interest 
in  education  could  not  have  been  greater.  Before  studying  the  se- 
lection given  below,  it  would  be  well  to  read  what  Einhard  said  about 
his  master's  zeal  for  learning  and  the  amount  of  progress  he  made 
personally  in  getting  an  education  [see  pp.  112-113]. 

The  most  conspicuous  of  Charlemagne's  educational  measures  was 
his  enlarging  and  strengthening  of  the  Scola  Palatina,  or  Palace  School. 
This  was  an  institution  which  had  existed  in  the  reign  of  his  father 
Pepin,  and  probably  even  earlier.  It  consisted  of  a  group  of  scholars 
gathered  at  the  Frankish  court  for  the  purpose  of  studying  and  writing 
literature,  educating  the  royal  household,  and  stimulating  learning 
throughout  the  country.  It  formed  what  we  to-day  might  call  an 
academy  of  sciences.  Under  Charlemagne's  care  it  came  to  include 
such  men  of  distinction  as  Paul  the  Deacon,  historian  of  the  Lombards, 
Paulinus  of  Aquileia,  a  theologian,  Peter  of  Pisa,  a  grammarian,  and 
above  all  Alcuin,  a  skilled  teacher  and  writer  from  the  school  of  York 
in  England.     Its  history  falls  into  three  main  periods:  (1)  from  the 


THE  CAROLINGIAN  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING  145 

middle  of  the  eighth  century  to  the  year  782 — the  period  during  which 
it  was  dominated  by  Paul   the   Deacon   and   his   Italian   colleagues; 

(2)  from  782  to  about  800,  when  its  leading  spirit  was  Alcuin;  and 

(3)  from  800  to  the  years  of  its  decadence  in  the  later  ninth  century, 
when  Frankish  rather  than  foreign  names  appear  most  prominently  in 
its  annals. 

It  was  Charlemagne's  ideal  that  throughout  his  entire  dominion 
opportunity  should  be  open  to  all  to  obtain  at  least  an  elementary 
education  and  to  carry  their  studies  as  much  farther  as  they  liked. 
To  this  end  a  regular  system  of  schools  was  planned,  beginning  with 
the  village  school,  in  charge  of  the  parish  priest  for  the  most  elementary 
studies,  and  leading  up  through  monastic  and  cathedral  schools  to 
the  School  of  the  Palace.  In  the  intermediate  stages,  corresponding 
to  our  high  schools  and  academies  to-day,  the  subjects  studied  were 
essentially  the  same  as  those  which  received  attention  in  the  Scola 
Palatina.  They  were  divided  into  two  groups:  (1)  the  trivium,  in- 
cluding grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialectic  (or  philosophy),  and  (2)  the 
quadrivium,  including  geometry,  arithmetic,  astronomy,  and  music. 
The  system  thus  planned  was  never  fully  put  in  operation  throughout 
Frankland,  for  after  Charlemagne's  death  the  work  which  he  had  so 
well  begun  was  seriously  interfered  with  by  the  falling  off  in  intellectual 
aggressiveness  of  the  sovereigns,  by  civil  war,  and  by  the  ravages  of 
the  Hungarian  and  Norse  invaders  [see  p.  163].  A  capitulary  of 
Louis  the  Pious  in  817,  for  example,  forbade  the  continuance  of  sec- 
ular education  in  monastic  schools.  Still,  much  of  what  had  been 
done  remained,  and  never  thereafter  did  learning  among  the  Frankish 
people  fall  to  quite  so  low  a  stage  as  it  had  passed  through  in  the  sixth 
and  seventh  centuries. 

Charlemagne's  interest  in  education  may  be  studied  best  of  all  in 
his  capitularies.  In  the  extract  below  we  have  the  so-called  letter 
De  Lilteris  Colendis,  written  some  time  between  780  and  800,  which, 
though  addressed  personally  to  Abbot  Baugulf,  of  the  monastery  of 
Fulda,  was  in  reality  a  capitulary  establishing  certain  regulations 
regarding  education  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  monks.  To 
the  Church  was  intrusted  the  task  of  raising  the  level  of  intelligence 
among  the  masses,  and  the  clergy  were  admonished  to  bring  together 
the  children  of  both  freemen  and  serfs  in  schools  in  which  they  might 

Med.  Hist.— 10 


146  THE   AGE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE 

be  trained,  even  as  the  sons  of  the  nobles  were  trained  at  the  royal 
court. 


Source — Text  in  MonumentaGermanice  Historica,  Leges  (Boretius  ed.),  Vol.  I. 
No.  29,  pp.  78-79.  Adapted  from  translation  by  Dana  C.  Munro  ir 
Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  VI.,  No.  5,  pp.  12-14 


Charles,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  the  Franks  and  Lombards 
and  Patrician  of  the  Romans.1  To  Abbot  Baugulf,  and  to  all  the 
congregation — also  to  the  faithful  placed  under  your  care — 
we  have  sent  loving  greetings  by  our  ambassadors  in  the  name 
of  all-powerful  God. 

Be  it  known,  therefore,  to  you,  devoted  and  acceptable  to 
God,  that  we,  together  with  our  faithful,  have  deemed  it  expe- 
Men  of  the  dient   that   the   bishoprics   and   monasteries   in- 

withtae  work  trusted  by  the  favor  of  Christ  to  our  control,  in 
of  education  addition  to  the  order  of  monastic  life  and  the 
relationships  of  holy  religion,  should  be  zealous  also  in  the  cher- 
ishing of  letters,  and  in  teaching  those  who  by  the  gift  of  God  are 
able  to  learn,  according  as  each  has  capacity.  So  that,  just  as 
the  observance  of  the  rule  2  adds  order  and  grace  to  the  integrity 
of  morals,  so  also  zeal  in  teaching  and  learning  may  do  the  same 
for  sentences,  to  the  end  that  those  who  wish  to  please  God  by 
living  rightly  should  not  fail  to  please  Him  also  by  speaking  cor- 
rectly. For  it  is  written,  "  Either  from  thy  words  thou  shall  be 
justified  or  from  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned  "  [Matt.,  xii. 
37].  Although  right  conduct  may  be  better  than  knowledge, 
nevertheless  knowledge  goes  before  conduct.  Therefore  each  one 
ought  to  study  what  he  desires  to  accomplish,  in  order  that  so 
much  the  more  fully  the  mind  may  know  what  ought  to  be  "done, 


1  The  title  "Patricius  of  Rome"  was  conferred  on  Charlemagne  by  Pope 
Hadrian  I.,  in  774.  Its  bestowal  was  a  token  of  papal  appreciation  of  the 
king's  renewal  of  Pepin's  grant  of  lands  to  the  papacy.  In  practice  the 
title  had  little  or  no  meaning.  It  was  dropped  in  800  when  Charlemagne 
was  crowned  emperor  [see  p.  130]. 

2  That  is,  the  law  of  the  Church;  in  case  of  the  monasteries,  more  especially 
the  regulations  laid  down  for  their  order,  e.g.,  the  Benedictine  Rule. 


THE   CAROLINGIAN   REVIVAL   OF   LEARNING  147 

as  the  tongue  speeds  in  the  praises  of  all-powerful  God  without 
the  hindrances  of  mistakes.  For  while  errors  should  be  shunned 
Even  the  clergy  by  all  men,  so  much  the  more  ought  they  to  be 
tosneakand  avoided,  as  far  as  possible,  by  those  who  are 
write  correctly  chosen  for  this  very  purpose  alone.1  They  ought 
to  be  the  specially  devoted  servants  of  truth.  For  often  in 
recent  years  when  letters  have  been  written  to  us  from  mon- 
asteries, in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  brethren  who  dwelt 
there  offered  up  in  our  behalf  sacred  and  pious  prayers,  we 
have  recognized,  in  most  cases,  both  correct  thoughts  and 
uncouth  expressions;  because  what  pious  devotion  dictated 
faithfully  to  the  mind,  the  tongue,  uneducated  on  account  of 
the  neglect  of  study,  was  not  able  to  express  in  the  letter  without 
error.  Whence  it  happened  that  we  began  to  fear  lest  perchance, 
as  the  skill  in  writing  was  less,  so  also  the  wisdom  for  understand- 
ing the  Holy  Scriptures  might  be  much  less  than  it  rightly  ought 
to  be.  And  we  all  know  well  that,  although  errors  of  speech  are 
dangerous,  far  more  dangerous  are  errors  of  the  understanding. 
Therefore,  we  exhort  you  not  only  not  to  neglect  the  study  of 
letters,  but  also  with  most  humble  mind,  pleasing  to  God,  to 
Education  es-  study  earnestly  in  order  that  you  may  be  able 
sential  to  an  more  easily  and  more  correctly  to  penetrate  the 
of  the  Scrip-  mysteries  of  the  divine  Scriptures.  Since,  more- 
tures  over,  images,  [similes],  tropes  2  and  like  figures 

are  found  in  the  sacred  pages,  nobody  doubts  that  each  one  in 
reading  these  will  understand  the  spiritual  sense  more  quickly 
if  previously  he  shall  have  been  fully  instructed  in  the  mastery 
of  letters.  Such  men  truly  are  to  be  chosen  for  this  work  as  have 
both  the  will  and  the  ability  to  learn  and  a  desire  to  instruct 

1  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  assumed  that  churchmen  were  educated; 
few  other  men  had  any  claim  to  learning.  Charlemagne  here  says  that  it 
is  bad  indeed  when  men  who  have  been  put  in  ecclesiastical  positions  be- 
cause of  their  supposed  education  fall  into  errors  which  ought  to  be  expected 
only  from  ordinary  people. 

2  In  rhetoric  a  trope  is  ordinarily  defined  as  the  use  of  a  word  or  expression 
in  a  different  sense  from  that  which  properly  belongs  to  it.  The  most  com- 
mon varieties  are  metaphor,  metonomy,  synechdoche,  and  irony. 


148  THE   AGE   OF   CHARLEMAGNE 

others.  And  may  this  be  done  with  a  zeal  as  great  as  the  earnest- 
ness with  which  we  command  it.  For  we  desire  you  to  be,  as 
the  soldiers  of  the  Church  ought  to  be,  devout  in  mind,  learned 
in  discourse,  chaste  in  conduct,  and  eloquent  in  speech,  so  that 
when  any  one  shall  seek  to  see  you,  whether  out  of  reverence  for 
God  or  on  account  of  your  reputation  for  holy  conduct,  just  as 
he  is  edified  by  your  appearance,  he  may  also  be  instructed  by 
the  wisdom  which  he  has  learned  from  your  reading  or  singing, 
and  may  go  away  gladly,  giving  thanks  to  Almighty  God. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

24.    The  Oaths  of  Strassburg  (842) 

The  broad  empire  of  Germanic  peoples  built  up  by  Charlemagne  was 
extremely  difficult  to  hold  together.  Even  before  the  death  of  its 
masterful  creator,  in  814,  it  was  already  showing  signs  of  breaking  up, 
and  after  that  event  the  process  of  dissolution  set  in  rapidly.  It  will 
not  do  to  look  upon  this  falling  to  pieces  as  caused  entirely  by  the 
weakness  of  Charlemagne's  successors.  The  trouble  lay  deeper,  in  the 
natural  love  of  independence  common  to  all  the  Germans,  in  the  wide 
differences  that  had  come  to  exist  among  Saxons,  Lombards,  Bavarians, 
Franks,  and  other  peoples  in  the  empire,  and  finally  in  the  prevailing 
ill-advised  principle  of  royal  succession  by  which  the  territories  making 
up  the  empire,  like  those  composing  the  old  Frankish  kingdom,  were 
regarded  as  personal  property  to  be  divided  among  the  sovereign's 
sons,  just  as  was  the  practice  respecting  private  possessions.  As  a 
consequence  of  these  things  the  generation  following  the  death  of 
Charlemagne  was  a  period  of  much  confusion  in  western  Europe.  The 
trouble  first  reached  an  acute  stage  in  817  when  Emperor  Louis  the 
Pious,  Charlemagne's  son  and  successor,  was  constrained  to  make  a 
division  of  the  empire  among  his  three  sons,  Lothair,  Pepin,  and  Louis. 
The  Emperor  expressly  stipulated  that  despite  this  arrangement  there 
was  to  be  still  "one  sole  empire,  and  not  three";  but  it  is  obvious  that 
the  imperial  unity  was  at  least  pretty  seriously  threatened,  and  when, 
in  823,  Louis's  second  wife,  Judith  of  Bavaria,  gave  birth  to  a  son  and 
immediately  set  up  in  his  behalf  an  urgent  demand  for  a  share  of  the 
empire,  civil  war  among  the  rival  claimants  could  not  be  averted.  In  the 
struggle  that  followed  the  distracted  Emperor  completely  lost  his  throne 
for  a  time  (833).  Thereafter  he  was  ready  to  accept  almost  any  ar- 
rangement that  would  enable  him  to  live  out  his  remaining  days  in 

149 


150        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

peace.  When  he  died,  in  840,  two  of  the  sons,  Louis  the  German  and 
Judith's  child,  who  came  to  be  known  as  Charles  the  Bald,  combined 
against  their  brother  Lothair  (Pepin  had  died  in  838)  with  the  purpose 
of  wresting  from  him  the  imperial  crown,  which  the  father,  shortly 
before  his  death,  had  bestowed  upon  him.  At  least  they  were  de- 
termined that  this  mark  of  favor  from  the  father  should  not  give  the 
older  brother  any  superiority  over  them.  In  the  summer  of  841  the 
issue  was  put  to  the  test  in  a  great  battle  at  Fontenay,  a  little  distance 
east  of  Orleans,  with  the  result  that  Lothair  was  badly  defeated.  In 
February  of  the  following  year  Louis  and  Charles,  knowing  that  Lothair 
was  still  far  from  regarding  himself  as  conquered,  bound  themselves 
by  oath  at  Strassburg,  in  the  valley  of  the  Rhine,  to  keep  up  their 
joint  opposition  until  they  should  be  entirely  successful. 

The  pledges  exchanged  on  this  occasion  are  as  interesting  to  the 
student  of  language  as  to  the  historian.  The  army  which  accompanied 
Louis  was  composed  of  men  of  almost  pure  Germanic  blood  and  speech, 
while  that  with  Charles  was  made  up  of  men  from  what  is  now  southern 
arid  western  France,  where  the  people  represented  a  mixture  of  Frank- 
ish  and  old  Roman  and  Gallic  stocks.  As  a  consequence  Louis  took 
the  oath  in  the  lingua  romana  for  the  benefit  of  Charles's  soldiers,  and 
Charles  reciprocated  by  taking  it  in  the  lingua  teudisca,  in  order  that 
the  Germans  might  understand  it.  Then  the  followers  of  the  two 
kings  took  oath,  each  in  his  own  language,  that  if  their  own  king  should 
violate  his  agreement  they  would  not  support  him  in  acts  of  hostility 
against  the  other  brother,  provided  the  latter  had  been  true  to  his  word. 
The  lingua  romana  employed  marks  a  stage  in  the  development  of  the 
so-called  Romance  languages  of  to-day — French,  Spanish,  and  Italian — 
just  as  the  lingua  teudisca  approaches  the  character  of  modern  Teu- 
tonic languages — German,  Dutch,  and  English.  The  oaths  and  the 
accompanying  address  of  the  kings  are  the  earliest  examples  we  have 
of  the  languages  used  by  the  common  people  of  the  early  Middle  Ages. 
Latin  was  of  course  the  language  of  literature,  records,  and  correspond- 
ence, matters  with  which  ordinary  people  had  little  or  nothing  to 
do.  The  necessity  under  which  the  two  kings  found  themselves  of 
using  two  quite  different  modes  of  speech  in  order  to  be  understood 
by  all  the  soldiers  is  evidence  that  already  by  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century  the  Romance  and  Germanic  languages  were  becoming  essen- 


THE   OATHS   OF   STRASSBURG  151 

tially  distinct.    It  was  prophetic,  too,  of  the  fast  approaching  cleavage 
of  the  northern  and  southern  peoples  politically. 

Nithardus,  whose  account  of  the.  exchange  of  oaths  at  Strassburg 
is  translated  below,  was  an  active  participant  in  the  events  of  the 
first  half  of  the  ninth  century.  He  was  born  about  790,  his  mother 
being  Charlemagne's  daughter  Bertha  and  his  father  the  noted  courtier 
and  poet  Angilbert.  In  the  later  years  of  Charlemagne's  reign,  and 
probably  under  Louis  the  Pious  and  Charles  the  Bald,  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  defense  of  the  northwest  coasts  against  the  Northmen.  He 
fought  for  Charles  the  Bald  at  Fontenay  and  was  frequently  employed 
in  those  troublous  years  between  840  and  843  in  the  fruitless  nego- 
tiations among  the  rival  sons  of  Louis.  Neither  the  date  nor  the  man- 
ner of  his  death  is  known.  There  are  traditions  that  he  was  killed 
in  858  or  859  while  fighting  the  Northmen;  but  other  stories  just  as 
well  founded  tell  us  that  he  became  disgusted  with  the  turmoil  of  the 
world,  retired  to  a  monastery,  and  there  died  about  853.  His  his- 
tory of  the  wars  of  the  sons  of  Louis  the  Pious  (covering  the  period 
840-843)  was  undertaken  at  the  request  of  Charles  the  Bald.  The 
first  three  books  were  written  in  842,  the  fourth  in  843.  Aside  from 
a  rather  too  favorable  attitude  toward  Charles,  the  work  is  very  trust- 
worthy, and  the  claim  is  even  made  by  some  that  among  all  of  the 
historians  of  the  Carolingian  period,  not  even  Einhard  excepted,  no 
one  surpassed  Nithardus  in  spirit,  method,  and  insight.  It  may  further 
be  noted  that  Nithardus  was  the  first  historical  writer  of  any  importance 
in  the  Middle  Ages  who  was  not  some  sort  of  official  in  the  Church. 


Source — Nithardus,  Historiarum  Libri  IV.  ["Four  Books  of  Histories"], 
Bk.  III.,  Chaps.  4-5.  Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica, 
Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  665-666. 

Lothair  was  given  to  understand  that  Louis  and  Charles  were 
supporting  each  other  with  considerable  armies.1  Seeing  that 
his  plans  were  crushed  in  every  direction,  he  made  a  long  but 
profitless  expedition  and  abandoned  the  country  about  Tours. 

1  After  the  battle  of  Fontenay,  June  25,  841,  Charles  and  Louis  had 
separated  and  Lothair  had  formed  the  design  of  attacking  and  conquering 
first  one  and  then  the  other.  He  made  an  expedition  against  Charles,  but 
was  unable  to  accomplish  anything  before  his  two  enemies  again  drew  to- 
gether at  Strassburg. 


152        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

At  length  he  returned  into  France,1  worn  out  with  fatigue,  as 
was  also  his  army.  Pepin,2  bitterly  repenting  that  he  had  been 
Movements  on  Lothair's  side,  withdrew  into  Aquitaine. 
parties  in  841-  Charles,  learning  that  Otger,  bishop  of  Mainz, 
842  objected  to  the  proposed  passage  of  Louis  by 

way  of  Mainz  to  join  his  brother,  set  out  by  way  of  the  city  of 
Toul 3  and  entered  Alsace  at  Saverne.  When  Otger  heard  of 
this,  he  and  his  supporters  abandoned  the  river  and  sought 
places  where  they  might  hide  themselves  as  speedily  as  possible. 
On  the  fifteenth  of  February  Louis  and  Charles  came  together  in 
the  city  formerly  called  Argentoratum,  now  known  as  Strassburg, 
and  there  they  took  the  mutual  oaths  which  are  given  herewith, 
Louis  in  the  lingua  romana  and  Charles  in  the  lingua  teudisca. 
Before  the  exchange  of  oaths  they  addressed  the  assembled  people, 
each  in  his  own  language,  and  Louis,  being  the  elder,  thus  began: 
"  How  often,  since  the  death  of  our  father,  Lothair  has  pursued 
my  brother  and  myself  and  tried  to  destroy  us,  is  known  to  you 
all.  So,  then,  when  neither  brotherly  love,  nor  Christian  feeling, 
nor  any  reason  whatever  could  bring  about  a  peace  between  us 
upon  fair  conditions,  we  were  at  last  compelled  to  bring  the  mat- 
ter before  God,  determined  to  abide  by  whatever  issue  He  might 
decree.  And  we,  as  you  know,  came  off  victorious; 4  our  brother 
was  beaten,  and  with  his  followers  got  away,  each  as  best  he 
The  sDeech  could.  Then  we,  moved  by  brotherly  love  and 
of  Louis  the  having  compassion  on  our  Christian  people,  were 
not  willing  to  pursue  and  destroy  them;  but, 
still,  as  before,  we  begged  that  justice  might  be  done  to  each. 

1  The  name  "  Francia  "  was  as  yet  confined  to  the  country  lying  between 
the  Loire  and  the  Scheldt. 

2  This  Pepin  was  a  son  of  Pepin,  the  brother  of  Charles,  Louis,  and  Lothair. 
Upon  the  death  of  the  elder  Pepin  in  838  his  part  of  the  empire — the  great 


region  between  the  Loire  and  the  Pyrenees,  known  as  Aquitaine — had  been 

taken  possession  of  by  Charles,  without  regard  for  the  two  surviving 

It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  in  the  struggle  which  ensued  between  Charles 


and  Louis  on  the  one  side  and  Lothair  on  the  other,  young  Pepin  should  have 
given  such  aid  as  he  could  to  the  latter. 

3  On  the  upper  Moselle. 

4  This  refers  to  the  battle  of  Fontenay. 


THE   OATHS   OF   STRASSBURG  153 

He,  however,  after  all  this,  not  content  with  the  judgment  of 
God,  has  not  ceased  to  pursue  me  and  my  brother  with  hostile 
purpose,  and  to  harass  our  peoples  with  fire,  plunder,  and  murder. 
Wherefore  we  have  been  compelled  to  hold  this  meeting,  and, 
since  we  feared  that  you  might  doubt  whether  our  faith  was 
fixed  and  our  alliance  secure,  we  have  determined  to  make  our 
oaths  thereto  in  your  presence.  And  we  do  this,  not  from  any 
unfair  greed,  but  in  order  that,  if  God,  with  your  help,  shall  grant 
us  peace,  we  may  the  better  provide  for  the  common  welfare. 
But  if,  which  God  forbid,  I  shall  dare  to  violate  the  oath  which  I 
shall  swear  to  my  brother,  then  I  absolve  each  one  of  you  from 
your  allegiance  and  from  the  oath  which  you  have  sworn  to 
me." 

After  Charles  had  made  the  same  speech  in  the  lingua  romana, 
Louis,  as  the  elder  of  the  two,  swore  first  to  be  faithful  to  his 
alliance: 

Pro  Deo  amur  et  pro  christian  poblo  et  nostro  commun  salva- 
ment,  dist  di  in  avant,  in  quant  Deus  savir  et  podir  me  dunat,  si 
The  oath  salvaraeio   cist   meon   fradre  Karlo  et  in  adiudha 

of  Louis  ei  ^n  cad}iUna  cosa,  si  cum  om  per  dreit  son  fradra 

salvar  dist,  in  o  quid  il  mi  altresi  fazet ;  et  ab  Ludher  nul  plaid 
numquam  prindrai,  qui  meon  vol  cist  meon  fradre  Karle  in  damno 
sit.1 

When  Louis  had  taken  this  oath,  Charles  swore  the  same  thing 
in  the  lingua  teudisca: 

In  Godes  minna  ind  in  thes  christianes  folches  ind  unser  bed- 
hero  gealtnissi,  fon  thesemo  dage  frammordes,  so  fram  so  mir 
The  oath  G°t   gewizci   indi   madh   jurgibit,  so   haldih  tesan 

of  Charles  minan    bruodher,    soso     man     mit     rehtu     sinan 

bruodher  seal,  in  thiu,  thaz  er  mig  sosoma  duo  ;  indi  mit  Ludher  en 

1  The  translation  of  this  oath  is  as  follows:  "For  the  love  of  God,  and  for 
the  sake  as  well  of  our  peoples  as  of  ourselves,  I  promise  that  from  this  day 
forth,  as  God  shall  grant  me  wisdom  and  strength,  I  will  treat  this  my 
brother  as  one's  brother  ought  to  be  treated,  provided  that  he  shall  do  the 
same  by  me.  And  with  Lothair  I  will  not  willingly  enter  mto  any  dealings 
which  may  injure  this  my  brother." 


154        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

in  nohheiniu  thing  ne  gegango,  the  minan  willon  imo  ce  scadhen 
werhen. 

The  oath  which  the  subjects  of  the  two  kings  then  took,  each 
[people]  in  its  own  language,  reads  thus  in  the  lingua  romana: 

Si  Lodhwigs  sagrament  qua  son  fradre  Karlo  jurat,  conservat, 
The  oath  et  Karlus  meos  sendra,  de  suo  part,  non  lo  stanit, 

subtects^of  tiie  s^  ™  reiurnar  non  tint  pois,  ne  io  ne  neuls  cui  eo 
two  kings  returnar  int  pois,  in  nulla  aiudha  contra  Lodhuwig 

nun  li  iver.1 

And  in  the  lingua  Jteudisca: 

Oba  Karl  then  eid  then,  er  sineno  bruodher  Ludhuwige  gesuor, 
geleistit,  indi  Ludhuwig  min  herro  then  er  imo  gesuor,  forbrihchit, 
obih  ina  es  irwenden  ne  mag,  noh  ih  no  thero  nohhein  then  ih  es 
irwended  mag,  widhar  Karle  imo  ce  follusti  ne  wirdhic. 

25.   The  Treaty  of  Verdun  (843) 

After  the  meeting  at  Strassburg,  Charles  and  Louis  advanced  against 
Lothair,  who  now  abandoned  Aachen  and  retreated  southward  past 
Chalons-sur-Marne  toward  Lyons.  When  the  brothers  had  come  into 
the  vicinity  of  Chalons-sur-Saone,  they  were  met  by  ambassadors  from 
Lothair  who  declared  that  he  was  weary  of  the  struggle  and  was  ready 
to  make  peace  if  only  his  imperial  dignity  should  be  properly  recog- 
nized and  the  share  of  the  kingdom  awarded  to  him  should  be  somewhat 
the  largest  of  the  three.  Charles  and  Louis  accepted  their  brother's 
overtures  and  June  15,  842,  the  three  met  on  an  island  in  the  Saone 
and  signed  preliminary  articles  of  peace.  It  was  agreed  that  a  board 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  prominent  men  should  assemble  October  1  at 
Metz,  on  the  Moselle,  and  make  a  definite  division  of  the  kingdom. 
This  body,  with  the  three  royal  brothers,  met  at  the  appointed  time, 
but  adjourned  to  Worms,  and  subsequently  to  Verdun,  on  the  upper 

1  This  oath,  taken  by  the  followers  of  the  two  kings,  may  )>e  thus  trans- 
lated: "If  Louis  [or  Charles]  shall  observe  the  oath  which  he  h:is  sworn  to 
his  brother  Charles  [or  Louis],  and  Charles  [or  Louis],  our  lord,  on  his  side, 
should  be  untrue  to  his  oath,  and  we  should  be  unable  to  hold  him  to  it, 
neither  we  nor  any  whom  we  can  deter,  shall  give  him  any  support."  The 
oath  taken  by  the  two  armies  was  the  same,  with  only  the  names  of  the 
kings  interchanged. 


THE  TREATY  OF  VERDUN  155 

Meuse,  in  order  to  have  the  use  of  maps  at  the  latter  place.  The  treaty 
which  resulted  during  the  following  year  was  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant in  all  mediaeval  times.  Unfortunately  the  text  of  it  has  not  sur- 
vived, but  all  its  more  important  provisions  are  well  known  from 
the  writings  of  the  chroniclers  of  the  period.  Two  such  accounts  of 
the  treaty,  brief  but  valuable,  are  given  below. 

Louis  had  been  the  real  sovereign  of  Bavaria  for  sixteen  years  and 
to  his  kingdom  were  now  added  all  the  German  districts  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Rhine  (except  Friesland),  together  with  Mainz,  Worms, 
and  Speyer  on  the  left  bank,  under  the  general  name  of  Francia 
Orientalis.  Charles  retained  the  western  countries — Aquitaine,  Gas- 
cony,  Septimania,  the  Spanish  March,  Burgundy  west  of  the  Saone, 
Neustria,  Brittany,  and  Flanders — designated  collectively  as  Francia 
Occidentalis.1  The  intervening  belt  of  lands,  including  the  two  capitals 
Rome  and  Aachen,  and  extending  from  Terracina  in  Italy  to  the  North 
Sea,  went  to  Lothair.2  With  it  went  the  more  or  less  nominal  imperial 
dignity.  In  general,  Louis's  portion  represented  the  coming  Germany 
and  Charles's  the  future  France.  But  that  of  Lothair  was  utterly  lack- 
ing in  either  geographical  or  racial  unity  and  was  destined  not  long 
to  be  held  together.  Parts  of  it,  particularly  modern  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine, have  remained  to  this  day  a  bone  of  contention  between  the 
states  on  the  east  and  west.  "The  partition  of  843,"  says  Professor 
Emerton,  "involved,  so  far  as  we  know,  nothing  new  in  the  relations 
of  the  three  brothers  to  each  other.  The  theory  of  the  empire  was 
preserved,  but  the  meaning  of  it  disappeared.  There  is  no  mention 
of  any  actual  superiority  of  the  Emperor  (Lothair)  over  his  brothers, 
and  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  imperial  name  was  anything 
but  an  empty  title,  a  memory  of  something  great  which  men  could  not 
quite  let  die,  but  which  for  a  hundred  years  to  come  was  to  be  power- 
less for  good  or  evil."  3  The  empire  itself  was  never  afterwards  united 
under  the  rule  of  one  man,  except  for  two  years  (885-887)  in  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Fat. 

JThis  name  in  the  course  of  time  became  simply  "Francia,"  then 
"  France."  In  the  eastern  kingdom,  "  Francia  "  gradually  became  restricted 
to  the  region  about  the  Main,  or  "  Franconia." 

2  It  was  commonly  known  as  "  Lotharii  regnum,"  later  as  "  Lotharingia," 
and  eventually  (a  fragment  of  the  kingdom  only)  as  "  Lorraine." 

3  Emerton,  Mediaeval  Europe  (Boston,  1903),  p.  30. 


156        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 


Sources — (a)  Annales  Bertiniani  ["Annals  of  Saint  Bertin"].  Translated 
from  text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz 
ed.),  Vol.  I.,  p.  440. 

(b)  Rudolf  i  Fuldensis  Annales  ["Annals  of  Rudolph  of  Fulda"]. 
Text  in  Monumenta  Germaniaz  Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.), 
Vol.  I.,  p.  362. 

(a) 

Charles  set  out  to  find  his  brothers,  and  they  met  at  Verdun. 
By  the  division  there  made  Louis  received  for  his  share  all  the 
A  statement  country  beyond  the  Rhine,1  and  on  this  side 
nalsof  Saint  Speyer,  Worms,  Mainz,  and  the  territories  be- 
Bertin  longing  to   these  cities.     Lothair  received  that 

which  is  between  the  Scheldt  and  the  Rhine  toward  the  sea,  and 
that  lying  beyond  Cambresis,  Hainault,  and  the  counties  adjoin- 
ing on  this  side  of  the  Meuse,  down  to  the  confluence  of  the  Saone 
and  Rhone,  and  thence  along  the  Rhone  to  the  sea,  together  with 
the  adjacent  counties.  Charles  received  all  the  remainder,  ex- 
tending to  Spain.  And  when  the  oath  was  exchanged  they  went 
their  several  ways. 

(b) 

The  realm  had  from  early  times  been  divided  in  three  portions, 

and  in  the  month  of  August  the  three  kings,  coming  together  at 

•     j.-u     *  Verdun  in  Gaul,  redivided  it  among  themselves. 

Another  from  '  ° 

those  of  Ru-  Louis  received  the  eastern  part,  Charles  the  west- 
ern.  Lothair,  who  was  older  than  his  brothers, 
received  the  middle  portion.  After  peace  was  firmly  established 
and  oaths  exchanged,  each  brother  returned  to  his  dominion  to 
control  and  protect  it.  Charles,  presuming  to  regard  Aquitaine 
as  belonging  properly  to  his  share,  was  given  much  trouble  by 
his  nephew  Pepin,2  who  annoyed  him  by  frequent  incursions  and 
caused  great  loss. 

i  This  statement  is  only  approximately  true.  In  reality  Friesland  (Frisia) 
and  a  strip  up  the  east  bank  of  the  Rhine  almost  to  the  mouth  of  the  Moselle 
went  to  Lothair. 

2  See  p.  152,  note  2. 


A   NINTH   CENTURY   FRANKISH   CHRONICLE  157 


26.   A  Chronicle  of  the  Frankish  Kingdom  in  the  Ninth  Century 

The  following  passages  from  the  Annals  of  Xanten  are  here  given 
for  two  purposes — to  show  something  of  the  character  of  the  period 
of  the  Carolingian  decline,  and  to  illustrate  the  peculiar  features  of 
the  mediaeval  chronicle.  Numerous  names,  places,  and  events  neither 
very  clearly  understood  now,  nor  important  if  they  were  understood, 
occur  in  the  text,  and  some  of  these  it  is  not  deemed  worth  while  to 
attempt  to  explain  in  the  foot-notes.  The  selection  is  valuable  for  the 
general  impressions  it  gives  rather  than  for  the  detailed  facts  which 
it  contains,  though  some  of  the  latter  are  interesting  enough. 

Annals  as  a  type  of  historical  writing  first  assumed  considerable 
importance  in  western  Europe  in  the  time  of  Charles  Martel  and 
Charlemagne.  Their  origin,  like  that  of  most  forms  of  mediaeval  lit- 
erary production,  can  be  traced  directly  to  the  influence  of  the  Church. 
The  annals  began  as  mere  occasional  notes  jotted  down  by  the  monks 
upon  the  "Easter  tables,"  which  were  circulated  among  the  monasteries 
so  that  the  sacred  festival  might  not  fail  to  be  observed  at  the  proper 
date.  The  Easter  tables  were  really  a  sort  of  calendar,  and  as  they 
were  placed  on  parchment  having  a  broad  margin  it  was  very  natural 
that  the  monks  should  begin  to  write  in  the  margin  opposite  the  various 
years  some  of  the  things  that  had  happened  in  those  years.  An  Easter 
table  might  pass  through  a  considerable  number  of  hands  and  so  have 
events  recorded  upon  it  by  a  good  many  different  men.  All  sorts  of 
things  were  thus  made  note  of — some  important,  some  unimportant — 
and  of  course  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  everything  written 
down  was  actually  true.  Many  mistakes  were  possible,  especially  as 
the  writer  often  had  only  his  memory,  or  perhaps  mere  hearsay,  to 
rely  upon.  And  when,  as  frequently  happened,  these  scattered  Easter 
tables  were  brought  together  in  some  monastery  and  there  revised, 
fitted  together,  and  written  out  in  one  continuous  chronicle,  there  were 
chances  at  every  turn  for  serious  errors  to  creep  in.  The  compilers 
were  sometimes  guilty  of  wilful  misrepresentation,  but  more  often 
their  fault  was  only  their  ignorance,  credulity,  and  lack  of  critical 
discernment.  In  these  annals  there  was  no  attempt  to  write  history 
as  we  now  understand  it;  that  is,  the  chroniclers  did  not  undertake 
to  work  out  the  causes  and  results  and  relations  of  things.    They  merely 


158        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

recorded  year  by  year  such  happenings  as  caught  their  attention — 
the  succession  of  a  new  pope,  the  death  of  a  bishop,  the  coronation  of 
a  king,  a  battle,  a  hail-storm,  an  eclipse,  the  birth  of  a  two-headed 
calf — all  sorts  of  unimportant,  and  from  our  standpoint  ridiculous, 
items  being  thrown  in  along  with  matters  of  world-wide  moment. 
Heterogeneous  as  they  are,  however,  the  large  collections  of  annals 
that  have  come  down  to  us  have  been  used  by  modern  historians  with 
the  greatest  profit,  and  but  for  them  we  should  know  far  less  than  we 
do  about  the  Middle  Ages,  and  especially  about  the  people  and  events 
of  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  centuries. 

The  Annals  of  Xanten  here  quoted  are  the  work  originally  of  a  num- 
ber of  ninth  century  monks.  The  fragments  from  which  they  were 
ultimately  compiled  are  thought  to  have  been  brought  together  at 
Cologne,  or  at  least  in  that  vicinity.  They  cover  especially  the  years 
831-873. 

Source — Annates  Xantenses  ["  Annals  of  Xanten ' '].  Text  in  Monumenta  Ger- 
manics Historica,  Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  II.,  p.  227.  Adapted 
from  translation  in  James  H.  Robinson,  Readings  in  European 
History  (New  York,  1904),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  158-162. 

844.  Pope  Gregory  departed  this  world  and  Pope  Sergius 
followed  in  his  rMace.1  Count  Bernhard  was  killed  by  Charles. 
Pepin,  king  of  Aquitaine,  together  with  his  son  and  the  son  of 
Bernhard,  routed  the  army  of  Charles,2  and  there  fell  the  abbot 
Hugo.  At  the  same  time  King  Louis  advanced  with  his  army 
against  the  Wends,3  one  of  whose  kings,  Gestimus  by  name, 
was  killed;  the  rest  came  to  Louis  and  pledged  him  their  fidelity, 
which,  however,  they  broke  as  soon  as  he  was  gone.  Thereafter 
Lothair,  Louis,  and  Charles  came  together  for  council  in  Dieden- 
hofen,  and  after  a  conference  they  went  their  several  ways  in 
peace. 

1  Gregory  IV.  (827-844)  was  succeeded  in  the  papal  office  by  Sergius  II. 
(844-847). 

2  By  the  treaty  of  Verdun  in  843  Charles  the  Bald  had  been  given  Aqui- 
taine, along  with  the  other  distinctively  Frankish  regions  of  western  Europe. 
His  nephew  Pepin,  however,  who  had  never  been  reconciled  to  Charles's 
taking  possession  of  Aquitaine  in  838,  called  himself  king  of  that  country 
and  made  stubborn  resistance  to  his  uncle's  claims  of  sovereignty  [see  p. 
156]. 

3  The  Wends  were  a  Slavonic  people  living  in  the  lower  valley  of  the  Oder. 


A  NINTH   CENTURY   FRANKISH   CHRONICLE  159 

845.  Twice  in  the  canton  of  Worms  there  was  an  earthquake; 
the  first  in  the  night  following  Palm  Sunday,  the  second  in  the 
The  Northmen  ^°^  night  of  Christ's  Resurrection.  In  the  same 
in  Frisia  and      year  the  heathen  *  broke  in  upon  the  Christians 

at  many  points,  but  more  than  twelve  thousand 
of  them  were  killed  by  the  Frisians.  Another  party  of  invaders 
devastated  Gaul;  of  these  more  than  six  hundred  men  perished. 
Yet,  owing  to  his  indolence,  Charles  agreed  to  give  them  many 
thousand  pounds  of  gold  and  silver  if  they  would  leave  Gaul,  and 
this  they  did.  Nevertheless  the  cloisters  of  most  of  the  saints 
were  destroyed  and  many  of  the  Christians  were  led  away 
captive. 

After  this  had  taken  place  King  Louis  once  more  led  a  force 
against  the  Wends.  When  the  heathen  had  learned  this  they 
sent  ambassadors,  as  well  as  gifts  and  hostages,  to  Saxony,  and 
asked  for  peace.  Louis  then  granted  peace  and  returned  home 
from.  Saxony.  Thereafter  the  robbers  were  afflicted  by  a  terrible 
pestilence,  during  which  the  chief  sinner  among  them,  by  the 
name  of  Reginheri,  who  had  plundered  the  Christians  and  the 
holy  places,  was  struck  down  by  the  hand  of  God.  They  then 
took  counsel  and  threw  lots  to  determine  from  which  of  their  gods 
they  should  seek  safety;  but  the  lots  did  not  fall  out  happily,  and 
on  the  advice  of  one  of  their  Christian  prisoners  that  they  should 
cast  their  lot  before  the  God  of  the  Christians,  they  did  so,  and 
the  lot  fell  happily.  Then  their  king,  by  the  name  of  Rorik, 
together  with  all  the  heathen  people,  refrained  from  meat  and 
drink  for  fourteen  days,  when  the  plague  ceased,  and  they  sent 
back  all  their  Christian  prisoners  to  their  country. 

846.  According  to  their  custom,  the  Northmen  plundered 
The  Northmen  eastern  and  western  Frisia  and  burned  the  town 
again  in  Frisia  of  Dordrecht,  with  two  other  villages,  before 
the  eyes  of  Lothair,  who  was  then  in  the  castle  of  Nimwegen, 

1  By  "the  heathen"  are  meant  the  Norse  pirates  from  Denmark  and  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula.    On  their  invasions  see  p.  163. 


160  THE   ERA   OF  THE   LATER   CAROLINGIANS 

but  could  not  punish  the  crime.  The  Northmen,  with  their  boats 
filled  with  immense  booty,  including  both  men  and  goods,  re- 
turned to  their  own  country. 

In  the  same  year  Louis  sent  an  expedition  from  Saxony 
against  the  Wends  across  the  Elbe.  He  personally,  however, 
went  with  his  army  against  the  Bohemians,  whom  we  call  Beu- 
winitha,  but  with  great  risk.  .  .  .  Charles  advanced  against 
the  Britons,  but  accomplished  nothing. 

At  this  same  time,  as  no  one  can  mention  or  hear  without  great 
sadness,  the  mother  of  all  churches,  the  basilica  of  the  apostle 
R  Peter,  was  taken  and  plundered  by  the  Moors,  or 

attacked  by  Saracens,  who  had  already  occupied  the  region  of 
Beneventum.1  The  Saracens,  moreover,  slaugh- 
tered all  the  Christians  whom  they  found  outside  the  walls 
of  Rome,  either  within  or  without  this  church.  They  also  carried 
men  and  women  away  prisoners.  They  tore  down,  among  many 
others,  the  altar  of  the  blessed  Peter,  and  their  crimes  from  day  to 
day  bring  sorrow  to  Christians.  Pope  Sergius  departed  life  this 
year. 

847.  After  the  death  of  Sergius  no  mention  of  the  apostolic 
see  has  come  in  any  way  to  our  ears.  Rabanus  [Maurus],  master 
and  abbot  of  Fulda,2  was  solemnly  chosen  archbishop  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Bishop  Otger,  who  had  died.  Moreover,  the  Northmen 
here  and  there  plundered  the  Christians  and  engaged  in  a  battle 
with  the  counts  Sigir  and  Liuthar.  They  continued  up  the  Rhine 
as  far  as  Dordrecht,  and  nine  miles  farther  to  Meginhard,  when 
they  turned  back,  having  taken  their  booty. 

i  This  Saracen  attack  upon  Rome  was  made  by  some  Arab  pirates  who 
in  the  Mediterranean  were  playing  much  the  same  role  of  destruction  as 
were  the  Northmen  on  the  Atlantic  coasts.  A  league  of  Naples,  Gaeta,  and 
Amalfi  defeated  the  pirates  in  849,  and  delivered  Rome  from  her  oppres- 
sors long  enough  for  new  fortifications  to  be  constructed.  Walls  were 
built  at  this  time  to  include  the  quarter  of  St.  Peter's — a  district  known  to 
this  day  as  the  "Leonine  City"  in  memory  of  Leo  IV.,  who  in  847  succeeded 
Sergius  as  pope  [see  above  text  under  date  850]. 

2  Fulda  was  an  important  monastery  on  one  of  the  upper  branches  of 
the  Weser,  northeast  of  Mainz. 


A  NINTH   CENTURY   FRANKISH   CHRONICLE  161 

848.  On  the  fourth  of  February,  towards  evening,  it  lightened 
and  there  was  thunder  heard.  The  heathen,  as  was  their  custom, 
A  tb  k  inflicted  injury  on  the  Christians.  In  the  same 
of  heresy  year  King  Louis  held  an  assembly  of  the  people 

near  Mainz.  At  this  synod  a  heresy  was  brought 
forward  by  a  few  monks  in  regard  to  predestination.  These 
were  convicted  and  beaten,  to  their  shame,  before  all  the  people. 
They  were  sent  back  to  Gaul  whence  they  had  come,  and,  thanks 
be  to  God,  the  condition  of  the  Church  remained  uninjured. 

849.  While  King  Louis  was  ill,  his  army  of  Bavaria  took  its 
way  against  the  Bohemians.  Many  of  these  were  killed  and  the 
remainder  withdrew,  much  humiliated,  into  their  own  country. 
The  heathen  from'  the  North  wrought  havoc  in  Christendom 
as  usual  and  grew  greater  in  strength;  but  it  is  painful  to  say 
more  of  this  matter. 

850.  On  January  1st  of  that  season,  in  the  octave  of  the  Lord,1 
towards  evening,  a  great  deal  of  thunder  was  heard  and  a  mighty 
flash  of  lightning  seen;  and  an  overflow  of  water  afflicted  the 
human  race  during  this  winter.  In  the  following  summer  an  all 
too  great  heat  of  the  sun  burned  the  earth.  Leo,  pope  of  the 
Further  rav-  apostolic  see,  an  extraordinary  man,  built  a  forti- 
Nwthmenheand  fication  around  the  church  of  St.  Peter  the  apostle, 
the  Saracens  The  Moors,  however,  devastated  here  and  there 
the  coast  towns  in  Italy.  The  Norman  Rorik,  brother  of  the 
above-mentioned  younger  Heriold,  who  earlier  had  fled  dis- 
honored from  Lothair,  again  took  Dordrecht  and  did  much  evil 
treacherously  to  the  Christians.  In  the  same  year  so  great  a 
peace  existed  between  the  two  brothers — Emperor  Lothair  and 
King  Louis — that  they  spent  many  days  together  in  Osning 
[Westphalia]  and  there  hunted,  so  that  many  were  astonished 
thereat;  and  they  went  each  his  way  in  peace. 

851.  The  bodies  of  certain  saints  were  sent  from  Rome  to 

1  An  octave,  in  the  sense  here  meant,  is  the  week  (strictly  eight  days) 
following  a  church  festival;  in  this  case,  the  eight  days  following  the  anni- 
versary of  Christ's  birth,  or  Christmas. 

Med.  Hist.— 11 


162        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

Saxony — that  of  Alexander,  one  of  seven  brethren,  and  those  of 
Romanus  and  Emerentiana.  In  the  same  year  the  very  noble 
Empress,  Irmingard  by  name,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Lothair, 
The  Northmen  departed  this  world.  The  Normans  inflicted 
again  in  Frisia  much  harm  in  Frisia  and  about  the  Rhine.  A 
mighty  army  of  them  collected  by  the  River 
Elbe  against  the  Saxons,  and  some  of  the  Saxon  towns  were 
besieged,  others  burned,  and  most  terribly  did  they  oppress  the 
Christians.  A  meeting  of  our  kings  took  place  on  the  Maas 
[Meuse]. 

852.  The  steel  of  the  heathen  glistened;  excessive  heat;  a 
famine  followed.  There  was  not  fodder  enough  for  the  animals. 
The  pasturage  for  the  swine  was  more  than  sufficient. 

853.  A  great  famine  in  Saxony,  so  that  many  were  forced  to 
live  on  horse  meat. 

854.  The  Normans,  in  addition  to  the  very  many  evils  which 
The  Northmen  they  were  everywhere  inflicting  upon  the  Chris- 
oMSt  Martin0  tians,  burned  the  church  of  St.  Martin,  bishop 
at  Tours  of  Tours,  where  his  body  rests. 

855.  In  the  spring  Louis,  the  eastern  king,  sent  his  son  of  the 
same  name  to  Aquitaine  to  obtain  possession  of  the  heritage  of 
his  uncle  Pepin. 

856.  The  Normans  again  chose  a  king  of  the  same  name  as 
the  preceding  one,  and  related  to  him,  and  the  Danes  made  a 
fresh  incursion  by  sea,  with  renewed  forces,  against  the  Christians. 

857.  A  great  sickness  prevailed  among  the  people.  This  pro- 
duced a  terrible  foulness,  so  that  the  limbs  were  separated  from 
the  body  even  before  death  came. 

858.  Louis,  the  eastern  king,  held  an  assembly  of  the  people 
of  his  territory  in  Worms. 

859.  On  the  first  of  January,  as  the  early  Mass  was  being  said, 
a  single  earthquake  occurred  in  Worms  and  a  triple  one  in  Mainz 
before  daybreak. 

860.  On  the  fifth  of  February  thunder  was  heard.    The  king 


THE   NORTHMEN   IN   FRANKLAND  163 

returned  from  Gaul  after  the  whole  empire  had  gone  to  destruc- 
tion, and  was  in  no  way  bettered. 

861.  The  holy  bishop  Luitbert  piously  furnished  the  cloister 
which  is  called  the  Freckenhorst  with  many  relics  of  the  saints, 
Sacred  relics  namely,  of  the  martyrs  Boniface  and  Maximus, 
ffethe^srtthe  anc*  °f  tne  confessors  Eonius  and  Antonius, 
Freckenhorst  and  added  a  portion  of  the  manger  of  the  Lord 
and  of  His  grave,  and  likewise  of  the  dust  of  the  Lord's  feet  as  He 
ascended  to  heaven.  In  this  year  the  winter  was  long  and  the 
above-mentioned  kings  again  had  a  secret  consultation  on  the 
island  near  Coblenz,  and  they  laid  waste  everything  round 
about. 

27.   The  Northmen  in  the  Country  of  the  Franks. 

Under  the  general  name  of  Northmen  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  cen- 
turies were  included  all  those  peoples  of  pure  Teutonic  stock  who 
inhabited  the  two  neighboring  peninsulas  of  Denmark  and  Scandinavia. 
In  this  period,  and  after,  they  played  a  very  conspicuous  part  in  the 
history  of  western  Europe — at  first  as  piratical  invaders  along  the 
Atlantic  coast,  and  subsequently  as  settlers  in  new  lands  and  as  con- 
querors and  state-builders.  Northmen  was  the  name  by  which  the 
people  of  the  continent  generally  knew  them,  but  to  the  Irish  they 
were  known  as  Ostmen  or  Eastmen,  and  to  the  English  as  Danes,  while 
the  name  which  they  applied  to  themselves  was  Vikings  ["Creekmen"]. 
Their  prolonged  invasions  and  plunderings,  which  fill  so  large  a  place 
in  the  ninth  and  tenth  century  chronicles  of  England  and  France,  were 
the  result  of  several  causes  and  conditions:  (1)  their  natural  love  of 
adventure,  common  to  all  early  Germanic  peoples;  (2)  the  fact  that 
the  population  of  their  home  countries  had  become  larger  than  the 
limited  resources  of  these  northern  regions  would  support;  (3)  the 
proximity  of  the  sea  on  every  side,  with  its  fiords  and  inlets  inviting 
the  adventurer  to  embark  for  new  shores;  and  (4)  the  discontent  of 
the  nobles,  or  jarls,  with  the  growing  rigor  of  kingly  government.  In 
consequence  of  these  and  other  influences  large  numbers  of  the  people 
became  pirates,  with  no  other  occupation  than  the  plundering  of  the 
more  civilized  and  wealthier  countries  to  the  east,  west,  and  south. 


164        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

Those  from  Sweden  visited  most  commonly  the  coasts  of  Russia,  those 
from  Norway  went  generally  to  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  those  from 
Denmark  to  England  and  France.  In  fast-sailing  vessels  carrying 
sixty  or  seventy  men,  and  under  the  leadership  of  "kings  of  the  sea" 
who  never  "sought  refuge  under  a  roof,  nor  emptied  their  drinking- 
horns  at  a  fireside,"  they  darted  along  the  shores,  ascended  rivers, 
converted  islands  into  temporary  fortresses,  and  from  thence  sallied 
forth  in  every  direction  to  burn  and  pillage  and  carry  off  all  the  booty 
upon  which  they  could  lay  hands.  So  swift  and  irresistible  were  their 
operations  that  they  frequently  met  with  not  the  slightest  show  of 
opposition  from  the  terrified  inhabitants. 

It  was  natural  that  Frankland,  with  its  numerous  large  rivers  flowing 
into  the  ocean  and  leading  through  fertile  valleys  dotted  with  towns 
and  rich  abbeys,  should  early  have  attracted  the  marauders;  and  in 
fact  they  made  their  appearance  there  as  early  as  the  year  800.  Before 
the  end  of  Charlemagne's  reign  they  had  pillaged  Frisia,  and  a  monk- 
ish writer  of  the  time  tells  us  that  upon  one  occasion  the  great  Emperor 
burst  into  tears  and  declared  that  he  was  overwhelmed  with  sorrow 
as  he  looked  forward  and  saw  what  evils  they  would  bring  upon  his 
offspring  and  people.  Whether  or  not  this  story  is  true,  certain  it  is 
that  before  the  ninth  century  was  far  advanced  incursions  of  the 
barbarians — "the  heathen,"  as  the  chroniclers  generally  call  them — 
had  come  to  be  almost  annual  events.  In  841  Rouen  was  plundered 
and  burned;  in  843  Nantes  was  besieged,  the  bishop  killed,  and  many 
captives  carried  off;  in  845  the  invaders  appeared  at  Paris  and  were 
prevented  from  attacking  the  place  only  by  being  bribed;  and  so  the 
story  goes,  until  by  846  we  find  the  annalists  beginning  their  melan- 
choly record  of  the  year's  events  with  the  matter-of-course  statement 
that,  "according  to  their  custom,"  the  Northmen  plundered  such  and 
such  a  region  [see  p.  159].  Below  are  a  few  passages  taken  from  the 
Annals  of  Saint-Bertin,  the  poem  of  Abbo  on  the  siege  of  Paris,  and  the 
Chronicle  of  Saint-Denys,  which  show  something  of  the  character  of 
the  Northmen's  part  in  early  French  history,  first  as  mere  invaders 
and  afterwards  as  permanent  settlers. 

The  Annals  of  Saint-Bertin  are  so  called  because  they  have  been 
copied  from  an  old  manuscript  found  in  the  monastery  of  thai  name. 
The  period  which  they  cover  is  741-882.     Several  wnters  evidently 


THE   NORTHMEN   IN   FRANKLAND  165 

had  a  hand  in  their  compilation.  The  portion  between  the  dates  836 
and  861  is  attributed  to  Prudence,  bishop  of  Troyes,  and  that  between 
861  and  882  to  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims. 

Abbo,  the  author  of  the  second  selection  given  below,  was  a  monk 
of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  at  Paris.  He  wrote  a  poem  in  which  he  under- 
took to  give  an  account  of  the  siege  of  Paris  by  the  Northmen  in  885 
and  886,  and  of  the  struggles  of  the  Frankish  people  with  the  invaders 
to  the  year  896.  As  literature  the  poem  has  small  value,  but  for  the 
historian  it  possesses  some  importance. 

The  account  of  Rollo's  conversion  comes  from  a  history  of  the  Nor- 
mans written  in  the  twelfth  century  by  William  of  Jumieges.  The 
work  covers  the  period  851-1137,  its  earlier  portions  (to  996)  being 
based  on  an  older  history  written  by  Dudo,  dean  of  St.  Quentin,  in  the 
eleventh  century.  The  Chronicle  of  St.-Denys  was  composed  at  a 
later  time  and  served  to  preserve  most  of  the  history  recorded  by 
Dudo  and  William  of  Jumieges. 

Sources — (a)  Annates  Bertiniani  ["  Annals  of  St.  Bertin  "].  Text  in  Monu- 
menta  Germanice  Historica  Scriptores  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  I.,  pp. 
439-454. 

(b)  Abbonis  Monachi  S.  Germani  Parisiensis,  De  Bellis  Par- 
isiacce  Urbis,  et  Qdonis  Comitis,  post  Regis,  adversus  Northman- 
nosurbem  ipsam  obsidentes,  sub  Carolo  Crasso  Imp.  ac  Rege  Fran- 
corum  [Abbo's  "Wars  of  Count  Odo  with  the  Northmen  in  the 
Reign  of  Charles  the  Fat"].  Text  in  Bouquet, Recueil  des  His- 
toriens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France,  Vol.  VIII.,  pp.  4-26. 

(c)  Chronique  de  Saint-Denys  d'apres  Dudo  et  Guillaume  de  Ju- 
mieges ["Chronicle  of  St.  Denys  based  on  Dudo  and  William 
of  Jumieges"],  Vol.  III.,  p.  105. 

(a)  The   Earlier   Ravages   of  the   Northmen 

843.  Pirates  of  the  Northmen's  race  came  to  Nantes,  killed 
the  bishop  and  many  of  the  clergy  and  laymen,  both  men  and 
women,  and  pillaged  the  city.  Thence  they  set  out  to  plunder 
the  lands  of  lower  Aquitaine.  At  length  they  arrived  at  a  certain 
island *  and  carried  materials  thither  from  the  mainland  to  build 
themselves  houses;  and  they  settled  there  for  the  winter,  as  if 
that  were  to  be  their  permanent  dwelling-place. 

1  The  isle  of  Rhe,  near  Rochelle,  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Garonne. 


166        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

844.  The  Northmen  ascended  the  Garonne  as  far  as  Toulouse 
and  pillaged  the  lands  along  both  banks  with  impunity.  Some, 
after  leaving  this  region  went  into  Galicia  1  and  perished,  part  of 
them  by  the  attacks  of  the  cross-bowmen  who  had  come  to  resist 
them,  part  by  being  overwhelmed  by  a  storm  at  sea.  But  others 
of  them  went  farther  into  Spain  and  engaged  in  long  and  desper- 
ate combats  with  the  Saracens;  defeated  in  the  end,  they  with- 
drew. 

845.  The  Northmen  with  a  hundred  ships  entered  the  Seine  on 
the  twentieth  of  March  and,  after  ravaging  first  one  bank  and 
The  Northmen  t^ien  ^e  other,  came  without  meeting  any  re- 
bought  off  at  sistance  to  Paris.  Charles 2  resolved  to  hold  out 
Paris 

against   them;   but   seeing   the   impossibility   of 

gaining  a  victory,  he  made  with  them  a  certain  agreement  and 
by  a  gift  of  7,000  livres  he  bought  them  off  from  advancing  far- 
ther and  persuaded  them  to  return. 

Euric,  king  of  the  Northmen,  advanced,  with  six  hundred 
vessels,  along  the  course  of  the  River  Elbe  to  attack  Louis  of 
Germany.3  The  Saxons  prepared  to  meet  him,  gave  battle,  and 
with  the  aid  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  won  the  victory. 

The  Northmen  returned  [from  Paris]  down  the  Seine  and  com- 
ing to  the  ocean  pillaged,  destroyed,  and  burned  all  the  regions 
along  the  coast. 

846.  The  Danish  pirates  landed  in  Frisia.4  They  were  able  to 
force  from  the  people  whatever  contributions  they  wished  and, 
being  victors  in  battle,  they  remained  masters  of  almost  the 
entire  province. 

847.  The  Northmen  made  their  appearance  in  the  part  of  Gaul 
inhabited  by  the  Britons  5  and  won  three  victories.     Nom£noe\6 

1  Galicia  was  a  province  in  the  extreme  northwest  of  the  Spanish  peninsula. 

2  Charles  the  Bald,  who  by  the  treaty  of  Verdun  in  843,  had  obtained  the 
western  part  of  the  empire  built  up  by  Charlemagne  [see  p.  1 54J. 

3  Louis,  a  half-brother  of  Charles  the  Bald,  who  had  received  the  eastern 
portion  of  Charlemagne's  empire  by  the  settlement  of  843. 

4  Frisia,  or  Friesland,  was  the  northernmost  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Lothair. 
5. That  is,  in  Brittany. 

«  Nom6noe  was  a  native  chief  of  the  Britons.     Charles  the  Bald  made 


THE   NORTHMEN    IN    FRANKLAND  167 

although  defeated,  at  length  succeeded  in  buying  them  off  with 
presents  and  getting  them  out  of  his  country. 

853-854.  The  Danish  pirates,  making  their  way  into  the 
country  eastward  from  the  city  of  Nantes,  arrived  without 
The  burning  opposition,  November  eighth,  before  Tours.  This 
of  Tours  they  burned,   together  with   the   church   of  St. 

Martin  and  the  neighboring  places.  But  that  incursion  had  been 
foreseen  with  certainty  and  the  body  of  St.  Martin  had  been 
removed  to  Cormery,  a  monastery  of  that  church,  and  from  there 
to  the  city  of  Orleans.  The  pirates  went  on  to  the  chateau  of 
Blois s  and  burned  it,  proposing  then  to  proceed  to  Orleans  and 
destroy  that  city  in  the  same  fashion.  But  Agius,  bishop  of 
Orleans,  and  Burchard,  bishop  of  Chartres,2  had  gathered  soldiers 
and  ships  to  meet  them;  so  they  abandoned  their  design  and  re- 
turned to  the  lower  Loire,  though  the  following  year  [855]  they 
ascended  it  anew  to  the  city  of  Angers.3 

855.  They  left  their  ships  behind  and  undertook  to  go  over- 
land to  the  city  of  Poitiers;4  but  the  Aquitanians  came  to  meet 
them  and  defeated  them,'  so  that  not  more  than  300  escaped. 

856.  On  the  eighteenth  of  April,  the  Danish  pirates  came  to 
the  city  of  Orleans,  pillaged  it,  and  went  away  without  meeting 
Orleans  opposition.  Other  Danish  pirates  came  into  the 
pillaged  Seine  about  the  middle  of  August  and,  after 
plundering  and  ruining  the  towns  on  the  two  banks  of  the  river, 
and  even  the  monasteries  and  villages  farther  back,  came  to  a 
well  located  place  near  the  Seine  called  Jeufosse,  and,  there 
quietly  passed  the  winter. 

859.   The  Danish  pirates  having  made  a  long  sea-voyage  (for 

many  efforts  to  reduce  him  to  obedience,  but  with  little  success.  In  848 
or  849  he  took  the  title  of  king.  During  his  brief  reign  (which  ended  in  851) 
he  invaded  Charles's  dominions  and  wrought  almost  as  much  destruction 
as  did  the  Northmen  themselves. 

1  Tours,  Blois,  and  Orleans  were  all  situated  within  a  range  of  a  hundred 
miles  along  the  lower  Loire. 

2  Chartres  was  some  eighty  miles  northwest  of  Orleans. 
a  About  midway  between  Nantes  and  Tours. 

4  Poitiers  was  about  seventy  miles  southwest  of  Tours. 


168        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

they  had  sailed  between  Spain  and  Africa)  entered  the  Rhone, 
where  they  pillaged  many  cities  and  monasteries  and  established 
themselves  on  the  island  called  Camargue.  .  .  .  They  devas- 
tated everything  before  them  as  far  as  the  city  of  Valence.1  Then 
after  ravaging  all  these  regions  they  returned  to  the  island  where 
they  had  fixed  their  habitation.  Thence  they  went  on  toward 
Italy,  capturing  and  plundering  Pisa  and  other  cities. 

(b)  The  Siege  of  Paris 

885.  The  Northmen  came  to  Paris  with  700  sailing  ships,  not 
counting  those  of  smaller  size  which  are  commonly  called  barques. 
At  one  stretch  the  Seine  was  lined  with  the  vessels  for  more  than 
two  leagues,  so  that  one  might  ask  in  astonishment  in  what 
cavern  the  river  had  been  swallowed  up,  since  it  was  not  to  be 
seen.  The  second  day  after  the  fleet  of  the  Northmen  arrived 
The  Northmen  un<^er  ^he  wan"s  of  the  city,  Siegfred,  who  was 
arrive  at  the  then  king  only  in  name 2  but  who  was  in  command 
of  the  expedition,  came  to  the  dwelling  of  the 
illustrious  bishop.  He  bowed  his  head  and  said :  "  Gauzelin,  have 
compassion  on  yourself  and  on  your  flock.  We  beseech  you  to 
listen  to  us,  in  order  that  you  may  escape  death.  Allow  us  only 
the  freedom  of  the  city.  We  will  do  no  harm  and  we  will  see  to 
it  that  whatever  belongs  either  to  you  or  to  Odo  shall  be  strictly 
respected."  Count  Odo,  who  later  became  king,  was  then  the 
defender  of  the  city.3  The  bishop  replied  to  Siegfred,  "  Paris  has 
been  entrusted  to  us  by  the  Emperor  Charles,  who,  after  God, 
king  and  lord  of  the  powerful,  rules  over  almost  all  the  world. 

1  Valence  was  on  the  Rhone,  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  back  from 
the  Mediterranean  coast. 

2  The  Northmen  who  ravaged  France  really  had  no  kings,  but  only 
military  chieftains. 

3  Odo,  or  Elides,  was  chosen  king  by  the  Frankisli  nobles  and  clergy  in 
888,  to  succeed  (lie  deposed  Charles  (lie  Fat.  He  was  no(  of  the  Carolingian 
family  but  a  Kobertian  (son  of  Robert  the  Strong),  and  hence  a  forerunner 
of  the  Capetian  line  of  kings  regularly  established  on  the  French  throne  in 
987  [see  p.  177].  His  election  to  the  kingship  was  due  in  a  large  measure 
to  his  heroic  conduct  during  the  siege  of  Paris  by  the  Northmen. 


THE   NORTHMEN   IN    FRANKLAND  169 

He  has  put  it  in  our  care,  not  at  all  that  the  kingdom  may  be 
ruined  by  our  misconduct,  but  that  he  may  keep  it  and  be  assured 
of  its  peace.  If,  like  us,  you  had  been  given  the  duty  of  defending 
these  walls,  and  if  you  should  have  done  that  which  you  ask  us  to 
do,  what  treatment  do  you  think  you  would  deserve?"  Siegfred 
replied:  "I  should  deserve  that  my  head  be  cut  off  and  thrown 
to  the  dogs.  Nevertheless,  if  you  do  not  listen  to  my  demand, 
on  the  morrow  our  war  machines  will  destroy  you  with  poisoned 
arrows.  You  will  be  the  prey  of  famine  and  of  pestilence  and 
these  evils  will  renew  themselves  perpetually  every  year."  So 
saying,  he  departed  and  gathered  together  his  comrades. 

In  the  morning  the  Northmen,  boarding  their  ships,  approached 
the  tower  and  attacked  it.1  They  shook  it  with  their  engines 
The  attack  and  stormed  it  with  arrows.  The  city  resounded 
upon  the  tower  w^]1  clamor;  the  people  were  aroused,  the  bridges 
trembled.  All  came  together  to  defend  the  tower.  There  Odo, 
his  brother  Robert,2  and  the  Count  Ragenar  distinguished  them- 
selves for  bravery;  likewise  the  courageous  Abbot  Ebolus,3  the 
nephew  of  the  bishop.  A  keen  arrow  wounded  the  prelate,  while 
at  his  side  the  young  warrior  Frederick  was  struck  by  a  sword. 
Frederick  died,  but  the  old  man,  thanks  to  God,  survived.  There 
perished  many  Franks;  after  receiving  wounds  they  were  lavish 
of  life.  At  last  the  enemy  withdrew,  carrying  off  their  dead. 
The  evening  came.  The  tower  had  been  sorely  tried,  but  its 
foundations  were  still  solid,  as  were  also  the  narrow  bales  which 
surmounted  them.  The  people  spent  the  night  repairing  it  with 
boards.  By  the  next  day,  on  the  old  citadel  had  been  erected  a 
new  tower  of  wood,  a  half  higher  than  the  former  one.  At  sunrise 
the  Danes  caught  their  first  glimpse  of  it.  Once  more  the  latter 
engaged  with  the  Christians  in  violent  combat.  On  every  side 
arrows  sped  and  blood  flowed.     With  the  arrows  mingled  the 

1  The  tower  blocked  access  to  the  city  by  the  so-called  "Great  Bridge," 
which  connected  the  right  bank  of  the  Seine  with  the  island  on  which  the 
city  was  built.    The  tower  stood  on  the  present  site  of  the  Chatelet. 

2  In  time  Robert  also  became  king.     He  reigned  only  from  922  to  923. 

3  Abbot  Ebolus  was  head  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres. 


170        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

stones  hurled  by  slings  and  war-machines;  the  air  was  filled  with 
them.  The  tower  which  had  been  built  during  the  night  groaned 
Fierce  under  the  strokes  of  the  darts,  the  city  shook  with 

fighting  the  struggle,  the  people  ran  hither  and  thither,  the 

bells  jangled.  The  warriors  rushed  together  to  defend  the  totter- 
ing tower  and  to  repel  the  fierce  assault.  Among  these  warriors 
two,  a  count  and  an  abbot  [Ebolus],  surpassed  ail  the  rest  in 
courage.  The  former  was  the  redoubtable  Odo  who  never  ex- 
The  bravery  of  perienced  defeat  and  who  continually  revived  the 
Count  Odo  spirits  of  the  worn-out  defenders.     He  ran  along 

the  ramparts  and  hurled  back  the  enemy.  On  those  who  were 
secreting  themselves  so  as  to  undermine  the  tower  he  poured  oil, 
wax,  and  pitch,  which,  being  mixed  and  heated,  burned  the  Danes 
and  tore  off  their  scalps.  Some  of  them  died;  others  threw 
themselves  into  the  river  to  escape  the  awful  substance.     .     .     .1 

Meanwhile  Paris  was  suffering  not  only  from  the  sword  outside 
but  also  from  a  pestilence  within  which  brought  death  to  many 
noble  men.  Within  the  walls  there  was  not  ground  in  which  to 
bury  the  dead.  .  .  .  Odo,  the  future  king,  was  sent  to  Charles, 
emperor  of  the  Franks,2  to  implore  help  for  the  stricken  city. 

One  day  Odo  suddenly  appeared  in  splendor  in  the  midst  of 
three  bands  of  warriors.  The  sun  made  his  armor  glisten  and 
Odo's  mission  greeted  him  before  it  illuminated  the  country 
ChadesYhe  around.  The  Parisians  saw  their  beloved  chief 
Fat  at  a  distance,  but  the  enemy,  hoping  to  prevent 

his  gaining  entrance  to  the  tower,  crossed  the  Seine  and  took  up 
their  position  on  the  bank.  Nevertheless  Odo,  his  horse  at  a 
gallop,  got  past  the  Northmen  and  reached  the  tower,  whose 
gates  Ebolus  opened  to  him.     The  enemy  pursued  fiercely  the 

i  The  Northmen  were  finally  compelled  to  abandon  their  efforts  against 
the  tower.  They  then  retired  to  the  bank  of  the  Seine  near  the  abbey  of 
Saint-Denys  and  from  that  place  as  :i  center  ravaged  all  the  country  lying 
about  Paris.     In  a  short  time  they  renewed  the  attack  upon  the  city  itself. 

2  Charles  the  Fat,  under  whom  during  the  years  885  887  the  old  empire 
of  Charlemagne  was  for  the  last  time  united  under  a  single  sovereign.  When 
Odo  went  to  find  him  in  880  he  was  at  Met/  in  Germany.  German  and 
Italian  affairs  interested  him  more  than  did  those  of  the  Franks. 


THE    NORTHMEN    IN    FRANKLAND  171 

comrades  of  the  count  who  were  trying  to  keep  up  with  him 
and  get  refuge  in  the  tower.  [The  Danes  were  defeated  in  the 
attack.] 

Now  came  the  Emperor  Charles,  surrounded  by  soldiers  of  all 
nations,  even  as  the  sky  is  adorned  with  resplendent  stars.  A 
Terms  of  peace  great  throng>  speaking  many  languages,  accom- 
arranged  by  panied  him.  He  established  his  camp  at  the  foot 
of  the  heights  of  Montmartre,  near  the  tower. 
He  allowed  the  Northmen  to  have  the  country  of  Sens  to  plun- 
der; *  and  in  the  spring  he  gave  them  700  pounds  of  silver  on  con- 
dition that  by  the  month  of  March  they  leave  France  for  their 
own  kingdom.2  Then  Charles  returned,  destined  to  an  early 
death.3  ^ 

(c)  The  Baptism  of  Rollo  and  the  Establishment  of  the 
Normans  in  France  4 

The  king  had  at  first  wished  to  give  to  Rollo  the  province  of 
Flanders,  but  the  Norman  rejected  it  as  being  too  marshy.    Rollo 

1  Sens  was  about  a  hundred  miles  southeast  of  Paris.  Charles  abandoned 
the  region  about  Sens  to  the  Northmen  to  plunder  during  the  winter  of 
886-887.  His  very  lame  excuse  for  doing  this  was  that  the  people  of  the 
district  did  not  properly  recognize  his  authority  and  were  deserving  of  such 
punishment. 

2  The  twelve  month  siege  of  Paris  thus  brought  to  an  end  had  many  note- 
worthy results.  Chief  among  these  was  the  increased  prestige  of  Odo  as  a 
national  leader  and  of  Paris  as  a  national  stronghold.  Prior  to  this  time 
Paris  had  not  been  a  place  of  importance,  even  though  Clovis  had  made  it 
his  capital.  In  the  period  of  Charlemagne  it  was  distinctly  a  minor  city 
and  it  gained  little  in  prominence  under  Louis  the  Pious  and  Charles  the 
Bald.  The  great  Carolingian  capitals  were  Laon  and  Compiegne.  The 
siege  of  885-886,  however,  made  it  apparent  that  Paris  occupied  a  strategic 
position,  commanding  the  valley  of  the  Seine,  and  that  the  inland  city  was 
one  of  the  true  bulwarks  of  the  kingdom.  Thereafter  the  place  grew  rapidly 
in  population  and  prestige,  and  when  Odo  became  king  (in  888)  it  was  made 
his  capital.  As  time  went  on  it  grew  to  be  the  heart  of  the  French  king- 
dom and  came  to  guide  the  destinies  of  France  as  no  other  city  of  modern 
times  has  guided  a  nation. 

3  He  was  deposed  in  887,  largely  because  of  his  utter  failure  to  take  any 
active  measures  to  defend  the  Franks  against  their  Danish  enemies.  From 
Paris  he  went  to  Germany  where  he  died,  January  13,  888,  at  a  small  town 
on  the  Danube. 

4  After  the  famous  siege  of  Paris  in  885-886  the  Northmen,  or  Normans 
as  they  may  now  be  called,  continued  to  ravage  France  just  as  they  had 


172        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

refused  to  kiss  the  foot  of  Charles  when  he  received  from  him  the 

duchy  of  Normandy.     "He  who  receives  such  a  gift,"  said  the 

bishops  to  him,  "ought  to  kiss  the  foot  of  the  king."    "Never," 

replied  he,  "will  I  bend  the  knee  to  any  one,  or  kiss  anybody's 

foot."     Nevertheless,  impelled  by  the  entreaties  of  the  Franks, 

he  ordered  one  of  his  warriors  to  perform  the  act  in  his  stead. 

This  man  seized  the  foot  of  the  king  and  lifted  it  to  his  lips, 

kissing  it  without  bending  and  so  causing  the  king  to  tumble 

over  backwards.     At  that  there  was  a  loud  burst  of  laughter 

and  a  great  commotion  in  the  crowd  of  onlookers.    King  Charles, 

Rollo  receives    Robert,   Duke   of   the  Franks,1   the  counts  and 

from^harles       magnates,   and   the  bishops  and   abbots,  bound 

the  Simple  themselves  by  the  oath  of  the  Catholic  faith  to 

Rollo,  swearing  by  their  lives  and  their  bodies  and  by  the  honor 

of  all  the  kingdom,  that  he  might  hold  the  land  and  transmit  it  to 

his  heirs  from  generation  to  generation  throughout  all  time  to 

come.     When  these  things  had  been  satisfactorily  performed, 

the  king  returned  in  good  spirits  into  his  dominion,  and  Rollo 

with  Duke  Robert  set  out  for  Rouen. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  912  Rollo  was  baptized  in  holy  water 

in  the  name  of   the  sacred  Trinity  by  Franco,  archbishop  of 

Rollo  becomes    Rouen.      Duke  Robert,  who  was  his  godfather, 

a  Christian         gave  to  him  his  name.    Rollo  devotedly  honored 

God  and  the  Holy  Church  with  his  gifts.     .     .     .     The  pagans, 

done  before  that  event.  In  910  one  of  their  greatest  chieftains,  Rollo,  ap- 
peared before  Paris  and  prepared  to  take  the  city.  In  this  project  he  was 
unsuccessful,  but  his  warricrs  caused  so  much  devastation  in  the  surrounding 
country  that  Charles  the  Simple,  who  was  now  king,  decided  to  try  negotia- 
tions. A  meeting  was  held  at  Saint-Clair-sur-Epte  where,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Norman  warriors  and  the  Frankish  magnates,  Charles  and  Rollo 
entered  into  the  first  treaty  looking  toward  a  permanent  settlement  of  North- 
men on  Frankish  territory.  Rollo  promised  to  desist  from  his  attacks  upon 
Frankland  and  to  become  a  Christian.  Charles  agreed  to  give  over  to  the 
Normans  a  region  which  they  in  fact  already  held,  with  Rouen  as  its  center, 
and  extending  from  the  Epte  River  on  the  east  to  the  sea  on  the  west.  *rhe 
arrangement  was  dictated  by  good  sense  and  proved  a  fortunate  one  for 
all  parties  concerned. 

1  Robert  was  Odo's  brother.  "Duke  of  the  Franks"  was  a  title,  at  first 
purely  military,  but  fast  developing  to  the  point  where  it  was  to  culminate 
in  its  bearer  becoming  the  first  Capetian  king  [see  p.  177], 


CAROLINGIAN   EFFORTS   TO    PRESERVE    ORDER  173 

seeing  that  their  chieftain  had  become  a  Christian,  abandoned 
their  idols,  received  the  name  of  Christ,  and  with  one  accord 
desired  to  be  baptized.  Meanwhile  the  Norman  duke  made 
ready  for  a  splendid  wedding  and  married  the  daughter  of  the 
king  [Gisela]  according  to  Christian  rites. 

Rollo  gave  assurance  of  security  to  all  those  who  wished  to 
dwell  in  his  country.  The  land  he  divided  among  his  followers, 
and,  as  it  had  been  a  long  time  unused,  he  improved  it  by  the 
construction  of  new  buildings.  It  was  peopled  by  the  Norman 
warriors  and  by  immigrants  from  outside  regions.  The  duke 
His  work  established    for   his    subjects    certain    inviolable 

in  Normandy  rights  and  laws,  confirmed  and  published  by  the 
will  of  the  leading  men,  and  he  compelled  all  his  people  to  live 
peaceably  together.  He  rebuilt  the  churches,  which  had  been 
entirely  ruined;  he  restored  the  temples,  which  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  ravages  of  the  pagans;  he  repaired  and  added  to 
the  walls  and  fortifications  of  the  cities;  he  subdued  the  Britons 
who  rebelled  against  him;  and  with  the  provisions  obtained 
from  them  he  supplied  all  the  country  that  had  been  granted 
to  him. 

28.   Later   Carolingian   Efforts   to   Preserve    Order 

The  ninth  century  is  chiefly  significant  in  Frankish  history  as  an 
era  of  decline  of  monarchy  and  increase  of  the  powers  and  independence 
of  local  officials  and  magnates.  Already  by  Charlemagne's  death,  in 
814,  the  disruptive  forces  were  at  work,  and  under  the  relatively  weak 
successors  of  the  great  Emperor  the  course  of  decentralization  went 
on  until  by  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bald,  in  877,  the  royal  authority 
had  been  reduced  to  a  condition  of  insignificance.  This  century  was 
the  formative  period  par  excellence  of  the  feudal  system — a  type  of 
social  and  economic  organization  which  the  conditions  of  the  time 
rendered  inevitable  and  under  which  great  monarchies  tended  to  be 
dissolved  into  a  multitude  of  petty  local  states.  Large  landholders  be- 
gan to  regard  themselves  as  practically  independent ;  royal  officials,  par- 
ticularly the  counts,  refused  to  be  parted  from  their  positions  and  used 


174        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

them  primarily  to  enhance  their  own  personal  authority;  the  churches 
and  monasteries  stretched  their  royal  grants  of  immunity  so  far  as 
almost  to  refuse  to  acknowledge  any  obligations  to  the  central  govern- 
ment. In  these  and  other  ways  the  Carolingian  monarchy  was  shorn 
of  its  powers,  and  as  it  was  quite  lacking  in  money,  lands,  and  soldiers 
who  could  be  depended  on,  there  was  little  left  for  it  to  do  but  to  legis- 
late and  ordain  without  much  prospect  of  being  able  to  enforce  its 
laws  and  ordinances.  The  rapidity  with  which  the  kings  of  the  period 
were  losing  their  grip  on  the  situation  comes  out  very  clearly  from  a  study 
of  the  capitularies  which  they  issued  from  time  to  time.  In  general 
these  capitularies,  especially  after  about  840,  testify  to  the  disorder 
everywhere  prevailing,  the  usurpations  of  the  royal  officials,  and  the 
popular  contempt  of  the  royal  authority,  and  reiterate  commands 
for  the  preservation  of  order  until  they  become  fairly  wearisome  to 
the  reader.  Royalty  was  at  a  bad  pass  and. its  weakness  is  reflected 
unmistakably  in  its  attempts  to  govern  by  mere  edict  without  an>  back- 
ing of  enforcing  power.  In  843,  853,  856,  857,  and  many  other  years 
of  Charles  the  Bald's  reign,  elaborate  decrees  were  issued  prohibiting 
brigandage  and  lawlessness,  but  with  the  tell-tale  provision  that  vio- 
lators were  to  be  "admonished  with  Christian  love  to  repent/'  or  that 
they  were  to  be  punished  "as  far  as  the  local  officials  could  remember 
them,"  or  that  the  royal  agents  were  themselves  to  take  oath  not  to 
become  highway  robbers!  Sometimes  the  king  openly  confessed  his 
weakness  and  proceeded  to  implore,  rather  than  to  command,  his  sub- 
jects to  obey  him. 

The  capitulary  quoted  below  belongs  to  the  last  year  of  the  short 
reign  of  Carloman  (882-884),  son  of  Louis  the  Stammerer  and  grandson 
of  Charles  the  Bald.  It  makes  a  considerable  show  of  power,  ordain- 
ing the  punishment  of  criminals  as  confidently  as  if  there  had  really 
been  means  to  assure  its  enforcement.  But  in  truth  all  the  provisions 
in  it  had  been  embodied  in  capitularies  of  Carloman 's  predecessors  with 
scarcely  perceptible  effect,  and  there  was  certainly  no  reason  to  expect 
better  results  now.  With  the  nobles  practicing,  if  not  asserting,  in- 
dependence, the  churches  and  monasteries  heeding  the  royal  authority 
hardly  at  all,  the  country  being  ravaged  by  Northmen  and  the  people 
turning  to  the  great  magnates  for  the  protection  they  could  no  longer 
get    from    the    king,    and    the    counts    and    missi   dominici   making 


CAROLINGIAN    EFFORTS   TO    PRESERVE    ORDER  175 

their  lands  and  offices  the  basis  for  hereditary  local  authority,  the 
king  had  come  to  be  almost  powerless  in  the  great  realm  where  less 
than  a  hundred  years  before  Charlemagne's  word,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  was  law.  Even  Charlemagne  himself,  however,  could  have 
done  little  to  avert  the  state  of  anarchy  which  conditions  too  strong 
for  any  sovereign  to  cope  with  had  brought  about. 

Source — Text  in  Monumenta    Germanics   Historica,  Leges    (Boretius   ed.), 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  371-375. 

1.  According  to  the  custom  of  our  predecessors,  we  desire 
that  in  our  palace  shall  prevail  the  worship  of  God,  the  honor  of 
_,  .  -  the  king,  piety,  concord,  and  a  condition  of  peace; 
the  peace  en-     and   that  that   peace  established  in  our  palace 

by  the  sanction  of  our  predecessors  shall  extend 
to,  and  be  observed  throughout,  our  entire  kingdom. 

2.  We  desire  that  all  those  who  live  at  our  court,  and  all  who 
come  there,  shall  live  peaceably.  If  any  one,  in  breach  of  the 
peace,  is  guilty  of  violence,  let  him  be  brought  to  a  hearing  at 
our  palace,  by  the  authority  of  the  king  and  by  the  order  of  our 
missus,  as  it  was  ordained  by  the  capitularies  of  our  predecessors, 
that  he  may  be  punished  according  to  a  legal  judgment  and  may 
pay  a  triple  composition  with  the  royal  ban.1 

3.  If  the  offender  has  no  lord,  or  if  he  flees  from  our  court, 
our  missus  shall  go  to  find  him  and  shall  order  him,  in  our  name, 
to  appear  at  the  palace.2  If  he  should  be  so  rash  as  to  disdain  to 
come,  let  him  be  brought  by  force.  If  he  spurns  both  us  and  our 
missus,  and  while  refusing  to  obey  summons  is  killed  in  resisting, 
and  any  of  his  relatives  or  friends  undertake  to  exercise  against 
our  agents  who  have  killed  him  the  right  of  vengeance,3  we  will 
oppose  them  there  and  will  give  our  agents  all  the  aid  of  our  royal 
authority. 

5.   The  bishop  of  the  diocese  in  which  the  crime  shall  have 

i  See  p.  138,  note  4. 

2  If  the  offender  had  a  lord,  this  lord  would  be  expected  to  produce  his 
accused  vassal  at  court. 

3  That  is,  the  old  blood-feud  of  the  Germans. 


176        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

been  committed  ought,  through  the  priest  of  the  place,  to  give 
three  successive  invitations  to  the  offender  to  repent  and  to 
The  bishop's  make  reparation  for  his  fault  in  order  to  set 
part  in  re-  himself  right  with  God  and  the  church  that  he 

has  injured.  If  he  scorns  and  rejects  this  sum- 
mons and  invitation,  let  the  bishop  wield  upon  him  the  pastoral 
rod,  that  is  to  say,  the  sentence  of  excommunication;  and  let 
him  separate  him  from  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Church  until 
he  shall  have  given  the  satisfaction  that  is  required. 

9.  In  order  that  violence  be  entirely  brought  to  an  end  and 
order  restored,  it  is  necessary  that  the  bishop's  authority  should 
Obligations  of  be  supplemented  by  that  of  the  public  officials, 
^restrain*  Therefore  we   and   our  faithful  have  judged  it 

violence  expedient  that  the  missi  dominici  should  discharge 

faithfully  the  duties  of  their  office.1  The  count  shall  enjoin  to 
the  viscount,2  to  his  vicarii  and  centenarii,3  and  to  all  the  public 
officials,  as  well  as  to  all  Franks  who  have  a  knowledge  of  the 
law,  that  all  should  give  as  much  aid  as  they  can  to  the  Church, 
both  on  their  own  account  and  in  accord  with  the  requests  of 
the  clergy,  every  time  they  shall  be  called  upon  by  the  bishop,  the 
officers  of  the  bishop,  or  even  by  the  needy.  They  should  do  this 
for  the  love  of  God,  the  peace  of  the  Holy  Church,  and  the  fidelity 
that  they  owe  to  us. 

1  The  office  of  missus  had  by  this  time  fallen  pretty  much  into  decay. 
Many  of  the  missi  were  at  the  same  time  counts — a  combination  of  authority 
directly  opposed  to  the  earlier  theory  of  the  administrative  system.  The 
missus  had  been  supposed  to  supervise  the  counts  and  restrain  them  from 
disloyalty  to  the  king  and  from  indulgence  in  arbitrary  or  oppressive  meas- 
ures of  local  government. 

2  The  viscount  (vicecomes)  was  the  count's  deputy.  By  Carloman's  time 
there  were  sometimes  several  of  these  in  a  county.  They  were  at  first 
appointed  by  the  count,  but  toward  the  end  of  the  ninth  century  they  be- 
came hereditary. 

8  The  vicarii  and  centenarii  were  local  assistants  of  the  count  in  adminis- 
trative and  judicial  affairs.  In  Merovingian  times  their  precise  duties  are 
not  clear,  but  under  the  Carolingians  the  two  terms  tended  to  become 
synonyms.  The  centenarius,  or  hundredman,  was  charged  mainly  with 
the  administration  of  justice  in  the  smallest  local  division,  i.  e.,  the  hundred. 
In  theory  he  was  elected  by  the  people  of  the  hundred,  but  in  practice  he 
was  usually  appointed  by  the  count. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  HUGH   CAPET  177 

29.  The  Election  of  Hugh  Capet  (987) 
The  election  of  Hugh  Capet  as  king  of  France  in  987  marked  the 
establishment  of  the  so-called  Capetian  line  of  monarchs,  which  oc- 
cupied the  French  throne  in  all  not  far  from  eight  centuries — a  record 
not  equaled  by  any  other  royal  house  in  European  history.  The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  election  were  interesting  and  significant.  For  more 
than  a  hundred  years  there  had  been  keen  rivalry  between  the  Carolin- 
gian  kings  and  one  of  the  great  ducal  houses  of  the  Franks,  known  as 
the  Robertians.  In  the  disorder  which  so  generally  prevailed  in  France 
in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  powerful  families  possessing  extensive 
lands  and  having  large  numbers  of  vassals  and  serfs  were  able  to  make 
themselves  practically  independent  of  the  royal  power.  The  greatest  of 
these  families  was  the  Robertians,  the  descendants  of  Robert  the  Strong, 
father  of  the  Odo  who  distinguished  himself  at  the  siege  of  Paris  in 
885-886  [see  p.  170].  Between  888  and  987  circumstances  brought  it 
about  three  different  times  that  members  of  the  Robertian  house  were 
elevated  to  the  Frankish  throne  (Odo,  888-898;  Robert  I.,  922-923; 
and  Rudolph — related  to  the  Robertians  by  marriage  only, — 923-936). 
The  rest  of  the  time  the  throne  was  occupied  by  Carolingians  (Charles 
the  Simple,  898-922;  Louis  IV.,  936-954;  Lothair,  954-986;  and  Louis  V., 
986-987).  With  the  death  of  the  young  king  Louis  V.,  in  987,  the 
last  direct  descendant  of  Charlemagne  passed  away  and  the  question 
of  the  succession  was  left  for  solution  by  the  nobles  and  higher 
clergy  of  the  realm.  As  soon  as  the  king  was  dead,  such  of  these  mag- 
nates as  were  assembled  at  the  court  to  attend  the  funeral  bound 
themselves  by  oath  to  take  no  action  until  a  general  meeting  could 
be  held  at  Senlis  (a  few  miles  north  of  Paris)  late  in  May,  987.  The 
proceedings  of  this  general  meeting  are  related  in  the  passage  below. 
Apparently  it  had  already  been  pretty  generally  agreed  that  the  man 
to  be  elected  was  Hugh  Capet,  great-grandson  of  Robert  the  Strong 
and  the  present  head  of  the  famous  Robertian  house,  and  the  speech 
of  Adalbero,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  of  which  Richer  gives  a  resume^ 
was  enough  to  ensure  this  result.  There  was  but  one  other  claimant  of 
importance.  That  was  the  late  king's  uncle,  Charles  of  Lower  Lorraine. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  force  and  Adalbero  easily  disposed  of  his  candidacy, 
though  the  rejected  prince  was  subsequently  able  to  make  his  successful 
rival  a  good  deal  of  trouble.    Hugh  owed  his  election  to  his  large  ma- 

Med.  Hist.— 12 


178       THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

terial  resources,  the  military  prestige  of  his  ancestors,  the  active  support 
of  the  Church,  and  the  lack  of  direct  heirs  of  the  Carolingian  dynasty. 
Richer,  the  chronicler  whose  account  of  the  election  is  given  below, 
was  a  monk  living  at  Rheims  at  the  time  when  the  events  occurred 
which  he  describes.  His  "  Four  Books  of  Histories,"  discovered  only  in 
1833,  is  almost  our  only  considerable  source  of  information  on  Frankish 
affairs  in  the  later  tenth  century.  In  his  writing  he  endeavored  to  round 
out  his  work  into  a  real  history  and  to  give  more  than  the  bare  outline 
of  events  characteristic  of  the  mediaeval  annalists.  In  this  he  was 
only  partially  successful,  being  at  fault  mainly  in  indulging  in  too  much 
rhetoric  and  in  allowing  partisan  motives  sometimes  to  guide  him  in  what 
he  said.  His  partisanship  was  on  the  side  of  the  fallen  Carolingians.  The 
period  covered  by  the  "  Histories"  is  888-995;  they  are  therefore  roughly 
continuous  chronologically  with  the  Annals  of  Saint  Bertin  [see  p.  164]. 

Source — Richer,  Historiarum Libri  IV.  ["Four  Books  of  Histories"],  Bk.  IV., 
Chaps.  11-12.  Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Scrip- 
tores  (Pertz  ed.),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  633-634. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  appointed  time  the  magnates  of  Gaul  who 
had  taken  the  oath  came  together  at  Senlis.  When  they  had  all 
taken  their  places  in  the  assembly  and  the  duke 1  had  given  the 
sign,  the  archbishop2  spoke  to  them  as  follows:3 

"King  Louis,  of  divine  memory,  having  been  removed  from 
the  world,  and  having  left  no  heirs,  it  devolves  upon  us  to  take 
Ad  lb      's  serious  counsel  as  to  the  choice  of  a  successor,  so 

speech  at  that  the  state  may  not  suffer  any  injury  through 

neglect  and  the  lack  of  a  leader.  On  a  former 
occasion  4  we  thought  it  advisable  to  postpone  that  deliberation 
in  order  that  each  of  you  might  be  able  to  come  here  and,  in  the 
presence  of  the  assembly,  voice  the  sentiment  which  God  should 
have  inspired  in  you,  and  that  from  all  these  different  expressions 
of  opinion  we  might  be  able  to  find  out  what  is  the  general  will. 

1  Hugh  Capet,  whose  title  prior  to  987  was  "Duke  of  the  Franks." 

2  Adalbero,  archbishop  of  Rheims. 

3  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  Richer  here  gives  a  literal  reproduction  of 
Adalbero 's  speech,  but  so  far  as  we  can  tell  the  main  points  are  carefully 
stated. 

*  At  the  funeral  of  Louis. 


THE   ELECTION   OF   HUGH   CAPET  179 

"Here  we  are  assembled.     Let  us  see  to  it,  by  our  prudence 

and  honor,  that  hatred  shall  not  destroy  reason,  that  love  shall 

Election  not      n°t  interfere  with  truth.      We  are  aware  that 

heredity,  the      Charles *  has  his  partisans,  who   claim  that  the 

true  basis  of 

Frankish  king-  throne  belongs  to  him  by  right  of  birth.     But  if 

p  we  look  into  the  matter,  the  throne  is  not  ac- 

quired by  hereditary  right,  and  no  one  ought  to  be.  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  kingdom  unless  he  is  distinguished,  not  only  by  nobil- 
ity of  body,  but  also  by  strength  of  mind — only  such  a  one  as 
honor  and  generosity  recommend.2  We  read  in  the  annals  of 
rulers  of  illustrious  descent  who  were  deposed  on  account  of 
their  unworthiness  and  replaced  by  others  of  the  same,  or  even 
lesser,  rank.3 

"What  dignity  shall  we  gain  by  making  Charles  king?  He  is 
not  guided  by  honor,  nor  is  he  possessed  of  strength.  Then,  too, 
he  has  compromised  himself  so  far  as  to  have  become  the  depend- 
ent of  a  foreign  king4  and  to  have  married  a  girl  taken  from 
among  his  own  vassals.  How  could  the  great  duke  endure  that 
a  woman  of  the  low  rank  of  vassal  should  become  queen  and 

nw  „*•     „  rule  over  him?     How  could  he  tender  services  • 

Objections 

to  Charles  to  this  woman,  when  his  equals,  and  even  his 

superiors,  in  birth  bend  the  knee  before  him  and 

place  their  hands  under  his  feet?     Think  of  this  seriously  and 

you  will  see  that  Charles  must  be  rejected  for  his  own  faults 

1  Charles  of  Lower  Lorraine,  uncle  of  Louis  V. 

2  The  elective  principle  here  asserted  had  prevailed  in  the  choice  of  French 
and  German  kings  for  nearly  a  century.  The  kings  chosen,  however,  usually 
came  from  one  family,  as  the  Carolingians  in  France. 

3  Almost  exactly  a  century  earlier  there  had  been  such  a  case  among  the 
Franks,  when  Charles  the  Fat  was  deposed  and  Odo,  the  defender  of  Paris, 
elevated  to  the  throne  (888). 

4  Charles  had  been  made  duke  of  Lower  Lorraine  by  the  German  emperor. 
This  passage  in  Adalbero's  speech  looks  like  something  of  an  appeal  to 
Frankish  pride,  or  as  we  would  say  in  these  days,  to  national  sentiment. 
Still  it  must  be  remembered  that  while  a  sense  of  common  interest  was  un- 
doubtedly beginning  to  develop  among  the  peoples  represented  in  the  as- 
sembly at  Senlis,  these  peoples  were  still  far  too  diverse  to  be  spoken  of 
accurately  as  making  up  a  unified  nationality.  Adalbero  was  indulging  in 
a  political  harangue  and  piling  up  arguments  for  effect,  without  much  re- 
gard for  their  real  weight. 


180        THE  ERA  OF  THE  LATER  CAROLINGIANS 

rather  than  on  account  of  any  wrong  done  by  others.  Make  a 
decision,  therefore,  for  the  welfare  rather  than  for  the  injury  of 
the  state.  If  you  wish  ill  to  your  country,  choose  Charles  to  be 
king;  if  you  have  regard  for  its  prosperity,  choose  Hugh,  the 
illustrious  duke.  .  .  .  Elect,  then,  the  duke,  a  man  who  is 
Election  of  recommended  by  his  conduct,  by  his  nobility, 
Hugh  Capet  and  by  his  military  following.  In  him  you  will 
mee  find  a  defender,  not  only  of  the  state,  but  also  of 

your  private  interests.  His  large-heartedness  will  make  him  a 
father  to  you  all.  Who  has  ever  fled  to  him  for  protection  with- 
out receiving  it?  Who  that  has  been  deserted  by  his  friends  has 
he  ever  failed  to  restore  to  his  rights?" 

This  speech  was  applauded  and  concurred  in  by  all,  and  by 
unanimous  consent  the  duke  was  raised  to  the  throne.  He  was 
The  beginning  crowned  at  Noyon '  on  the  first  of  June 2  by  the 
of  his  reign  archbishop  and  the  other  bishops  as  king  of  the 
Gauls,  the  Bretons,  the  Normans,  the  Aquitanians,  the  Goths, 
the  Spaniards  and  the  Gascons.3  Surrounded  by  the  nobles  of 
the  king,  he  issued  decrees  and  made  laws  according  to  royal 
•  custom,  judging  and  disposing  of  all  matters  with  success. 

1  Noyon  was  a  church  center  about  fifty  miles  north  of  Paris.  That  the 
coronation  really  occurred  at  this  place  has  been  questioned  by  some,  but 
there  seems  to  be  small  reason  for  doubting  Richer 's  statement  in  the  matter. 

2  M.  Pfister  in  Lavisse,  Histoire  de  France,  Vol.  II.,  p.  412,  asserts  that  the 
coronation  occurred  July  3,  987. 

3  This  method  of  describing  the  extent  of  the  new  king's  dominion  shows 
how  far  from  consolidated  the  so-called  Frankish  kingdom  really  was.  The 
royal  domain  proper,  that  is,  the  land  over  which  the  king  had  immediate 
control,  was  limited  to  a  long  fertile  strip  extending  from  the  Somme  to  a 
point  south  of  Orleans,  including  the  important  towns  of  Paris,  Orleans, 
Etampes,  Senlis,  and  Compiegne.  Even  this  was  not  continuous,  but  was 
cut  into  here  and  there  by  the  estates  of  practically  independent  feudal 
lords.  By  far  the  greater  portion  of  modern  France  (the  name  in  987  was 
only  beginning  to  be  applied  to  the  whole  country)  consisted  of  great  coun- 
ties and  duchies,  owing  comparatively  little  allegiance  to  the  king  and  usually 
rendering  even  less  than  they  owed.  Of  these  the  most  important  was  the 
county  (later  duchy)  of  Normandy,  the  county  of  Bretagne  (Brittany), 
the  county  of  Flanders,  the  county  of  Anjou,  the  county  of  Blois,  the  duchy 
of  Burgundy,  the  duchy  of  Aquitaine,  the  county  of  Toulouse,  the  county  of 
Gascony ,  and  the  county  of  Barcelona  (south  of  the  Pyrenees).  The  " Goths ' ' 
referred  to  by  Richer  were  the  inhabitants  of  the  "march,"  or  border 
county,  of  Gothia  along  the  Mediterranean  coast  between  the  lower  Rhone 
and  the  Pyrenees  (old  Septimania). 


CHAPTER  XI. 
ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 
30.   The  Danes  in  England 

The  earliest  recorded  visit  of  the  Danes,  or  Northmen,  to  England 
somewhat  antedates  the  appearance  of  these  peoples  on  the  Frankish 
coast  in  the  year  800.  In  787  three  Danish  vessels  came  to  shore  at 
Warham  in  Dorset  and  their  sailors  slew  the  unfortunate  reeve  who 
mistook  them  for  ordinary  foreign  merchants  and  tried  to  collect 
port  dues  from  them.  Thereafter  the  British  coasts  were  never  free 
for  many  years  at  a  time  from  the  depredations  of  the  marauders. 
In  793  the  famous  church  at  Lindisfarne,  in  Northumberland,  was 
plundered;  in  795  the  Irish  coasts  began  to  suffer;  in  833  a  fleet  of 
twenty-five  vessels  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames ;  in  834  twelve 
hundred  pillagers  landed  in  Dorset;  in  842  London  and  Rochester 
were  sacked  and  their  population  scattered;  in  850  a  fleet  of  350  ships 
carrying  perhaps  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men,  wintered  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Thames  and  in  the  spring  caused  London  again  to  suffer;  and 
from  then  on  until  the  accession  of  King  Alfred,  in  871,  destructive 
raids  followed  one  another  with  distressing  frequency. 

The  account  of  the  Danish  invasions  given  below  is  taken  from 
a  biography  of  King  Alfred  commonly  attributed  to  Asser,  a  monk  of 
Welsh  origin  connected  with  the  monastery  of  St.  David  (later  bishop 
of  Sherborne)  and  a  close  friend  and  adviser  of  the  great  king.  It  gives 
us  some  idea  of  the  way  in  which  Alfred  led  his  people  through  the 
darkest  days  in  their  history,  and  of  the  settlement  known  as  the 
"Peace  of  Alfred  and  Guthrum"  by  which  the  Danish  leader  became 
a  Christian  and  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  later  division  of  the  Eng- 
lish country  between  the  two  contending  peoples. 

181 


182      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 


Source — Johannes  Menevensis  Asserius,  De  rebus  gestis  JElfredi  Magni 
[Asser,  "The  Deeds  of  Alfred  the  Great"],  Chaps.  42-55  passim. 
Adapted  from  translation  by  J.  A.  Giles  in  Six-  Old  English 
Chronicles  (London,  1866),  pp.  56-63. 

In  the  year  871  Alfred,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  of  only 
secondary  rank,  while  his  brothers  were  alive,  by  God's  permis- 
sion, undertook  the  government  of  the  whole  kingdom,  welcomed 
by  all  the  people.  Indeed,  if  he  had  cared  to,  he  might  have  done 
so  earlier,  even  while  his  brother  was  still  alive;1  for  in  wisdom 
Alfred  be-  anc*  °^ner  qualities  he  excelled  all  of  his  brothers, 

comes  king  and,  moreover,  he  was  courageous  and  victorious 
in  all  his  wars.  'He  became  king  almost  against 
his  will,  for  he  did  not  think  that  he  could  alone  withstand  the 
numbers  and  the  fierceness  of  the  pagans,  though  even  during 
the  lifetime  of  his  brothers  he  had  carried  burdens  enough  for 
many  men.  And  when  he  had  ruled  one  month,  with  a  small 
band  of  followers  and  on  very  unequal  terms,  he  fought  a  battle 
with  the  entire  army  of  the  pagans.  This  was  at  a  hill  called 
Wilton,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  River  Wily,  from  which  river 
the  whole  of  that  district  is  named.2  And  after  a  long  and  fierce 
engagement  the  pagans,  seeing  the  danger  they  were  in,  and 
no  longer  able  to  meet  the  attacks  of  their  enemies,  turned  their 
backs  and  fled.  But,  oh,  shame  to  say,  they  deceived  the  English, 
who  pursued  them  too  boldly,  and,  turning  swiftly  about,  gained 
the  victory.  Let  no  one  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  Christians 
had  only  a  small  number  of  men,  for  the  Saxons  had  been 
worn  out  by  eight  battles  with  the  pagans  in  one  year.  In 
these  they  had  slain  one  king,  nine  dukes,  and  innumerable 
troops  of  soldiers.  There  had  also  been  numberless  skirmishes, 
The  struggle  both  by  day  and  by  night,  in  which  Alfred,  with 
with  the  Danes  ys  ministers  and  chieftains  and  their  men,  were 
engaged  without  rest  or  relief  against  the  pagans.  How  many 
thousands  of  pagans  fell  in  these  skirmishes  God  only  knows, 

*That  is,  Ethelred  I.,  whom  Alfred  succeeded. 

2  Wiltshire,  on  the  southern  coast,  west  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. 


THE   DANES   IN    ENGLAND  183 

over  and  above  the  numbers  slain  in  the  eight  battles  before  men- 
tioned. In  the  same  year  the  Saxons  made  peace  with  the  in- 
vaders, on  condition  that  they  should  take  their  departure,  and 
they  did  so. 

In  the  year  877  the  pagans,  on  the  approach  of  autumn, 
partly  settled  in  Exeter1  and  partly  marched  for  plunder  into 
Mercia.2  The  number  of  that  disorderly  horde  increased  every 
day,  so  that,  if  thirty  thousand  of  them  were  slain  in  one  battle, 
others  took  their  places  to  double  the  number.  Then  King  Alfred 
commanded  boats  and  galleys,  i.  e.,  long  ships,  to  be  built 
throughout  the  kingdom,  in  order  to  offer  battle  by  sea  to 
the  enemy  as  they  were  coming.3  On  board  these  he  placed 
Alfred's  plan  sailors,  whom  he  commanded  to  keep  watch  on 
pag-ans  on  the  *ne  seas<  Meanwhile  he  went  himself  to  Exe- 
sea  ter,  where  the  pagans  were  wintering  and,  having 

shut  them  up  within  the  walls,  laid  siege  to  the  town.  He  also 
gave  orders  to  his  sailors  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  obtaining 
any  supplies  by  sea.  In  a  short  time  the  sailors  were  encountered 
by  a  fleet  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  ships  full  of  armed  soldiers, 
who  were  on  their  way  to  the  relief  of  their  countrymen.  As  soon 
as  the  king's  men  knew  that  the  ships  were  manned  by  pagan 
soldiers  they  leaped  to  their  arms  and  bravely  attacked  those 
barbaric  tribes.  The  pagans,  who  had  now  for  almost  a  month 
been  tossed  and  almost  wrecked  among  the  waves  of  the  sea, 
fought  vainly  against  them.  Their  bands  were  thrown  into 
confusion  in  a  very  short  time,  and  all  were  sunk  and  drowned 
in  the  sea,  at  a  place  called  Swanwich.4 

1  The  same  as  the  modern  city  of  the  name. 

2  Mercia  was  one  of  the  seven  old  Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms.  It  lay  east  of 
Wales. 

3  This  marked  a  radical  departure  in  methods  of  fighting  the  invaders. 
On  the  continent,  and  hitherto  in  England,  there  had  been  no  effort  to  pre- 
vent the  enemy  from  getting  into  the  country  they  proposed  to  plunder. 
Alfred's  creation  of  a  navy  was  one  of  his  wisest  acts.  Although  the  Eng- 
lish had  by  this  time  grown  comparatively  unaccustomed  to  seafaring  life 
they  contrived  to  win  their  first  naval  encounter  with  the  enemy. 

4  In  Dorsetshire. 


184      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 

In  878,  which  was  the  thirtieth  year  of  King  Alfred's  life,  the 
pagan  army  left  Exeter  and  went  to  Chippenham.  This  latter 
place  was  a  royal  residence  situated  in  the  west  of  Wiltshire,  on 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  river  which  the  Britons  called  the  Avon. 
They  spent  the  winter  there  and  drove  many  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  surrounding  country  beyond  the  sea  by  the  force  of  their 
arms,  and  by  the  want  of  the  necessities  of  life.  They  reduced 
almost  entirely  to  subjection  all  the  people  of  that  country. 

The  same  year,  after  Easter,  King  Alfred,  with  a  few  followers, 
made  for  himself  a  stronghold  in  a  place  called  Athelney,1  and 
Alfred  in  from  thence  sallied,  with  his  companions  and  the 

refuge  at  nobles  of  Somersetshire,  to  make  frequent  assaults 

upon  the  pagans.  Also,  in  the  seventh  week 
after  Easter,  he  rode  to  Egbert's  stone,  which  is  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  wood  that  is  called  Selwood.2  Here  he  was  met 
by  all  the  folk  of  Somersetshire  and  Wiltshire  and  Hampshire, 
who  had  not  fled  beyond  the  sea  for  fear  of  the  pagans;  and 
when  they  saw  the  king  alive  after  such  great  tribulation  they 
received  him,  as  he  deserved,  with  shouts  of  joy,  and  encamped 
there  for  one  night.  At  dawn  on  the  following  day  the  king  broke 
camp  and  went  to  Okely,  where  he  encamped  for  one  night. 
The  next  morning  he  moved  to  Ethandune3  and  there  fought 
bravely  and  persistently  against  the  whole  army  of  the  pagans. 
The  battle  of  By  the  help  of  God  he  defeated  them  with  great 
Ethandune  and  slaughter  and  pursued  them  flying  to  their  forti- 
ment  of  peace  fication.  He  at  once  slew  all  the  men  and  carried 
'      ^  off  all  the  booty  that  he  could  find  outside  the 

fortress,  which  he  immediately  laid  siege  to  with  his  entire  army. 
And  when  he  had  been  there  fourteen  days  the  pagans,  driven 

1  Athelney  was  in  Somersetshire,  northeast  of  Exeter,  in  the  marshes  at 
the  junction  of  the  Tone  and  the  Parret. 

2  The  modern  Brixton  Deverill,  in  Wiltshire,  near  Warminster. 

3  In  Wiltshire,  a  little  east  of  Westbury.  In  January  the  Danes  had 
removed  from  Exeter  to  Chippenham.  Edington  (or  Ethandune)  was  eight 
miles  from  the  camp  at  the  latter  place.  The  Danes  were  first  defeated  in 
an  open  battle  at  Edington,  and  then  forced  to  surrender  after  a  fourteen 
days'  siege  at  Chippenham, 


185 

by  famine,  cold,  fear,  and  finally  by  despair,  asked  for  peace  on 
the  condition  that  they  should  give  the  king  as  many  hostages 
as  he  should  ask,  but  should  receive  none  from  him  in  return. 
Never  before  had  they  made  a  treaty  with  any  one  on  such  terms. 
The  king,  hearing  this,  took  pity  upon  them  and  received  such 
hostages  as  he  chose.  Then  the  pagans  swore  that  they  would 
immediately  leave  the  kingdom,  and  their  king,  Guthrum, 
promised  to  embrace  Christianity  and  receive  baptism  at  Alfred's 
hands.  All  of  these  pledges  he  and  his  men  fulfilled  as  they  had 
promised.1 

31.   Alfred's  Interest  in  Education 

As  an  epoch  of  literary  and  educational  advancement  the  reign  of 
Alfred  in  England  (871-901)  was  in  many  respects  like  that  of  Charle- 
magne among  the  Franks  (768-814).  Like  Charlemagne,  Alfred  grew 
up  with  very  slight  education,  at  least  of  a  literary  sort ;  but  both  sov- 
ereigns were  strongly  dissatisfied  with  their  ignorance,  and  both  made 
earnest  efforts  to  overcome  their  own  defects  and  at  the  same  time 
to  raise  the  standard  of  intelligence  among  their  people  at  large.  When 
one  considers  how  crowded  were  the  reigns  of  both  with  wars  and  the 
pressing  business  of  administration,  such  devotion  to  the  interests  of 
learning  appears  the  more  deserving  of  praise. 

In  the  first  passage  below,  taken  from  Asger's  life  of  Alfred,  the 

anxiety  of  the  king  for  the  promotion  of  his  own  education  and  that 

of  his  children  is  clearly  and  strongly  stated.     We  find  him  following 

Charlemagne's  plan   of  bringing   scholars  from  foreign  countries.   He 

brought  them,  too,  from  parts  of  Britain  not  under  his  direct  control, 

and  used  them  at  the  court,  or  in  bishoprics,  to  perform  the  work  of 

instruction.     Curiously  enough,  whereas  Charlemagne  had  found  the 

chief  of  his  Palace  School,  Alcuin,  in  England,  Alfred  was  glad  to 

secure  the  services  of  two  men  (Grimbald  and  John)  who  had  made 

1  This  so-called  "Peace  of  Alfred  and  Guthrum"  in  878  provided  only  for 
the  acceptance  of  Christianity  by  the  Danish  leader.  It  is  sometimes 
known  as  the  treaty  of  Chippenham  and  is  not  to  be  confused  with  the  treaty 
of  Wedmore,  of  a  few  weeks  later,  by  which  Alfred  and  Guthrum  divided 
the  English  country  between  them.  The  text  of  this  second  treaty  will  be 
found  in  Lee's  Source-Book  of  English  History  (pp.  98-99),  though  the  in- 
troductory statement  there  given  is  somewhat  misleading.  This  assignment 
of  the  Danelaw  to  Guthrum 's  people  may  well  be  compared  with  the  yielding 
of  Normandy  to  Rollo  by  Charles  the  Simple  in  911  [see  p.  172]. 


186      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 

their  reputations  in  monasteries  situated  within  the  bounds  of  the  old 
Frankish  empire. 

Aside  from  some  native  songs  and  epic  poems,  all  the  literature 
known  to  the  Saxon  people  was  in  Latin,  and  but  few  persons  in  the 
kingdom  knew  Latin  well  enough  to  read  it.  The  king  himself  did  not, 
until  about  887.  It  was  supposed,  of  course,  that  the  clergy  were 
able  to  use  the  Latin  Bible  and  the  Latin  ritual  of  the  Church,  but 
when  Alfred  came  to  investigate  he  found  that  even  these  men  were 
often  pretty  nearly  as  ignorant  as  the  people  they  were  charged  to 
instruct.  What  the  king  did,  then,  was  to  urge  more  study  on  the  part 
of  the  clergy,  under  the  direction  of  such  men  as  Plegmund,  Asser,  Grim- 
bald,  John,  and  Werfrith.  The  people  in  general  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  master  a  foreign  language;  hence,  in  order  that  they  might 
not  be  shut  off  entirely  from  the  first-hand  use  of  books,  Alfred  under- 
took the  translation  of  certain  standard  works  from  the  Latin  into  the 
Saxon.  Those  thus  translated  were  Boethius's  Consolations  of  Philoso- 
phy, Orosius's  Universal  History  of  the  World,  Bede's  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  England,  and  Pope  Gregory  the  Great's  Pastoral  Rule.  The 
second  passage  given  below  is  Alfred's  preface  to  his  Saxon  edition  of 
the  last-named  book,  taking  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the  scholarly 
Bishop  Werfrith  of  Worcester.  The  Pastoral  Rule  [see  p.  90]  was 
written  by  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  (590-604)  as  a  body  of  instruc- 
tions in  doctrine  and  conduct  for  the  clergy.  Alfred's  preface,  as  a 
picture  of  the  ruin  wrought  by  the  long  series  of  Danish  wars,  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  in  the  study  of  ninth  and  tenth  century  Eng- 
land, as  well  as  a  most  interesting  revelation  of  the  character  of  the 
great  king. 

Sources — (a)  Asser,  De  rebus  gestis  Mlfredi  Magni,  Chaps.  75-78.  Adapted 
from  translation  by  J.  A.  Giles  in  Six  Old  English  Chronicles 
(London,  1866),  pp.  68-70. 
(b)  King  Alfred's  West-Saxon  Version  of  Pope  Gregory's  Pas- 
toral Rule.  Edited  by  Henry  Sweet  in  the  Publications  of  the 
Early  English  Text  Society  (London,  1871),  p.  2. 

(a) 
Ethelwerd,  the  youngest  [of  Alfred's  children],1  by  the  divine 
counsels  and  the  admirable  prudence  of  the  king,  was  consigned 
1  Ethelwerd  was  Alfred's  fifth  living  child. 


187 

to  the  schools  of  learning,  where,  with  the  children  of  almost  all 
the  nobility  of  the  country,  and  many  also  who  were  not  noble, 
he  prospered  under  the.  diligent  care  of  his  teachers.  Books  in 
both  languages,  namely,  Latin  and  Saxon,  were  read  in  the  school.1 
The  education  They  a^so  learned  to  write,  so  that  before  they 
of  Alfred's  were  of  an  age  to  practice  manly  arts,  namely, 

hunting  and  such  pursuits  as  befit  noblemen, 
they  became  studious  and  clever  in  the  liberal  arts.  Edward2 
and  iElfthryth3  were  reared  in  the  king's  court  and  received 
great  attention  from  their  attendants  and  nurses;  nay,  they  con- 
tinue to  this  day  with  the  love  of  all  about  them,  and  showing 
friendliness,  and  even  gentleness,  towards  all,  both  natives  and 
foreigners,  and  in  complete  subjection  to  their  father.  Nor, 
among  their  other  studies  which  pertain  to  this  life  and  are  fit 
for  noble  youths,  are  they  suffered  to  pass  their  time  idly  and 
unprofitably  without  learning  the  liberal  arts;  for  they  have 
carefully  learned  the  Psalms  and  Saxon  books,  especially  the 
Saxon  poems,  and.  are  continually  in  the  habit  of  making  use  of 
books. 

In  the  meantime  the  king,  during  the  frequent  wars  and  other 
hindrances  of  this  present  life,  the  invasions  of  the  pagans,  and 
The  varied  ac-  ^s  own  mfirmities  of  body,  continued  to  carry 

tivities  of  the  on  the  government,  and  to  practice  hunting  in 
kinsr 

all  its  branches;  to  teach  his  workers  in  gold  and 

artificers  of  all  kinds,  his  falconers,  hawkers  and  dog-keepers;  to 

build  houses,  majestic  and  splendid,  beyond  all  the  precedents  of 

his  ancestors,  by  his  new  mechanical  inventions;  to  recite  the 

Saxon  books,  and  especially  to  learn  by  heart  the  Saxon  poems, 

1  This  was,  of  course,  not  a  school  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word.  All 
that  is  meant  is  simply  that  young  Ethelwerd,  along  with  sons  of  nobles 
and  non-nobles,  received  instruction  from  the  learned  men  at  the  court. 
It  had  been  customary  before  Alfred's  day  for  the  young  princes  and  sons 
of  nobles  to  receive  training  at  the  court,  but  not  in  letters. 

2  This  was  Edward  the  Elder  who  succeeded  Alfred  as  king  and  reigned 
from  901  to  925.    He  was  Alfred's  eldest  son. 

3  ^Elfthryth  was  Alfred's  fourth  child.  She  became  the  wife  of  Baldwin  II. 
of  Flanders. 


188      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 

and  to  make  others  learn  them.1  And  he  alone  never  desisted 
from  studying  most  diligently  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  He  at- 
tended the  Mass  and  other  daily  services  of  religion.  He  was 
His  devout  diligent  in  psalm-singing  and  prayer,  at  the  hours 
character  both  of  the  day  and  of  the  night.    He  also  went 

to  the  churches,  as  we  have  already  said,  in  the  night-time  to 
pray,  secretly  and  unknown  to  his  courtiers.  He  bestowed  alms 
and  gifts  on  both  natives  and  foreigners  of  all  countries.  He  was 
affable  and  pleasant  to  all,  and  curiously  eager  to  investigate 
things  unknown.  Many  Franks,  Frisians,  Gauls,  pagans,  Britons, 
Scots,  and  Armoricans,2  noble  and  low-born,  came  voluntarily 
to  his  domain;  and  all  of  them,  according  to  their  nation  and 
deserving,  were  ruled,  loved,  honored  and  enriched  with  money 
and  power.3  Moreover,  the  king  was  in  the  habit  of  hearing  the 
divine  Scriptures  read  by  his  own  countrymen,  or,  if  by  any 
chance  it  so  happened,  in  company  with  foreigners,  and  he  at- 
tended to  it  with  care  and  solicitude.  His  bishops,  too,  and  all 
ecclesiastics,  his  earls  and  nobles,  ministers4  and  friends,  were 
loved  by  him  with  wonderful  affection,  and  their  sons,  who  were 
reared  in  the  royal  household,  were  no  less  dear  to  him  than  his 
own.  He  had  them  instructed  in  all  kinds  of  good  morals,  and, 
among  other  things,  never  ceased  to  teach  them  letters  night  and 
day. 

But,  as  if  he  had  no  consolation  in  all  these  things,  and  though 

1  Among  other  labors  in  behalf  of  learning,  Alfred  made  a  collection  of 
the  ancient  epics  and  lyrics  of  the  Saxon  people.  Unfortunately,  except 
in  the  case  of  the  epic  Beowulf,  only  fragments  of  these  have  survived. 
Beowulf  was,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  earliest  of  the  Saxon  poems,  having 
originated  before  the  migration  to  Britain,  though  it  was  probably  put  in 
its  present  form  by  a  Christian  monk  of  the  eighth  century. 

2  Armorica  was  the  name  applied  in  Alfred's  time  to  the  region  south- 
ward from  the  mouth  of  the  Seine  to  Brittany. 

3  There  is  a  good  deal  of  independent  evidence  that  Alfred  was  peculiarly 
hospitable  to  foreigners.  He  delighted  in  learning  from  them  about  their 
peoples  and  experiences. 

4  The  word  in  the  original  is  ministeriales.  It  is  not  Saxon  but  Franco- 
Latin  and  is  an  instance  of  the  Frankish  element  in  Asser's  vocabulary. 
Here,  as  among  the  Franks,  the  ministeriales  were  the  officials  of  second- 
rate  importance  surrounding  the  king,  the  highest  being  known  as  the 
ministri. 


Alfred's  interest  in  education  189 

he  suffered  no  other  annoyance,  either  from  within  or  without, 
he  was  harassed  by  daily  and  nightly  affliction,  so  that  he 
R  t  h*        complained  to  God  and  to  all  who  were  admitted 

lack  of  educa-  to  his  intimate  fondness,  that  Almighty  God  had 
made  him  ignorant  of  divine  wisdom,  and  of 
the  liberal  arts — in  this  emulating  the  pious,  the  wise,  and 
wealthy  Solomon,  king  of  the  Hebrews,  who  at  first,  despising  all 
present  glory  and  riches,  asked  wisdom  of  God  and  found  both, 
namely,  wisdom  and  worldly  glory;  as  it  is  written:  "Seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you."  But  God,  who  is  always  the  observer 
of  the  thoughts  of  the  mind  within  and  the  author  of  all  good 
intentions,  and  a  most  plentiful  helper  that  good  desires  may  be 
formed  (for  He  would  not  prompt  a  man  to  good  intentions,  unless 
He  also  amply  supplied  that  which  the  man  justly  and  properly 
wishes  to  have)  stimulated  the  king's  mind  within:  as  it  is  written, 
"I  will  hearken  what  the  Lord  God  will  say  concerning  me." 
He  would  avail  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  procure  co-workers 
in  his  good  designs,  to  aid  him  in  his  strivings  after  wisdom  that 
he  might  attain  to  what  he  aimed  at.  And,  like  a  prudent  bee, 
which,  going  forth  in  summer  with  the  early  morning  from  its  cell, 
steers  its  rapid  flight  through  the  uncertain  tracks  of  ether  and 
descends  on  the  manifold  and  varied  flowers  of  grasses,  herbs, 
and  shrubs,  discovering  that  which  pleases  most,  that  it  may 
bear  it  home,  so  did  he  direct  his  eyes  afar  and  seek  without 
that  which  he  had  not  within,  that  is,  in  his  own  kingdom.1 

But  God  at  that  time,  as  some  relief  to  the  king's  anxiety, 
Learned  men  yielding  to  his  complaint,  sent  certain  lights  to 
bnmffhtTto^tha  illuminate  him,  namely,  Werfrith,  bishop  of  the 
English  court  church  of  Worcester,  a  man  well  versed  in  divine 
Scripture,  who,  by  the  king's  command,  first  turned  the  books 

1  This  comparison  of  the  gathering  of  learning  to  the  operations  of  a 
bee  in  collecting  honey  is  very  common  among  classical  writers  and  also 
among  those  of  the  Carolingian  renaissance.  It  occurs  in  Lucretius,  Seneca, 
Macrobius,  Alcuin,  and  the  poet  Candidus. 


190      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 

of  the  Dialogues  of  Pope  Gregory  and  Peter,  his  disciple,  from 
Latin  into  Saxon,  and  sometimes  putting  sense  for  sense,  inter- 
preted them  with  clearness  and  elegance.  After  him  was  Pleg- 
mund,1  a  Mercian  by  birth,  archbishop  of  the  church  of  Canter- 
bury, a  venerable  man,  and  endowed  with  wisdom;  Ethelstan 
also,2  and  Werwulf,3  his  priests  and  chaplains,4  Mercians  by  birth 
and  learned.  These  four  had  been  invited  from  Mercia  by  King 
Alfred,  who  exalted  them  with  many  honors  and  powers  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons,  besides  the  privileges  which  Arch- 
bishop Plegmund  and  Bishop  Werfrith  enjoyed  in  Mercia.  By 
their  teaching  and  wisdom  the  king's  desires  increased  unceas- 
ingly, and  were  gratified.  Night  and  day,  whenever  he  had 
leisure,  he  commanded  such  men  as  these  to  read  books  to  him, 
for  he  never  suffered  himself  to  be  without  one  of  them;  wherefore 
he  possessed  a  knowledge  of  every  book,  though  of  himself  he 
could  not  yet  understand  anything  of  books,  for  he  had  not  yet 
learned  to  read  anything.5 

But  the  king's  commendable  desire  could  not  be  gratified  even 
Grimbald  and  in  this;  wherefore  he  sent  messengers  beyond  the 
from  the^on-  sea  *°  Gaul,  to  procure  teachers,  and  he  invited 
tinent  from  thence  Grimbald,6  priest  and  monk,  a  vener- 

able   man  and    good    singer,    adorned    with    every    kind    of 

1  Plegmund  became  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  890,  but  it  is  probable 
that  he  was  with  Alfred  some  time  before  his  election  to  the  primacy. 

2  This  Ethelstan  was  probably  the  person  of  that  name  who  was  conse- 
crated bishop  of  Ramsbury  in  909. 

3  From  another  document  it  appears  that  Werwulf  was  a  friend  of  Bishop 
Werfrith  in  Mercia  before  either  took  up  residence  at  Alfred's  court. 

4  In  Chap.  104  of  Asser's  biography  the  capellani  are  described  as  supplying 
the  king  with  candles,  by  whose  burning  he  measured  time.  The  word 
capellanus  is  of  pure  Frankish  origin  and  was  originally  applied  to  the  clerks 
(cterici  capellani)  who  were  charged  with  the  custody  of  the  cope  (cappa) 
of  St.  Martin,  which  was  kept  in  the  capella.  From  this  the  term  capella 
came  to  mean  a  room  especially  devotea  to  religious  uses,  that  is,  a  chapel. 
1 1  was  used  in  this  sense  as  early  as  829  in  Frankland;  Whether  by  capellanus 
Asser  meant  mere  clerks,  or  veritable  "chaplains"  in  the  later  sense,  cannot 
be  known,  though  his  usage  was  probably  the  latter. 

5  Chapter  87  of  Asser  informs  us  that  Alfred  mastered  the  art  of  reading 
in  the  year  887. 

6  Grimbald  came  from  the  Flemish  monastery  of  St.  Bertin  at  St.  Omer. 
He  was  recommended  to  Alfred  by  Fulco,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  who  had 


191 

ecclesiastical  training  and  good  morals,  and  most  learned  in 
holy  Scripture.  He  also  obtained  from  thence  John,1  also  priest 
and  monk,  a  man  of  most  energetic  talents,  and  learned  in  all 
kinds  of  literary  science,  and  skilled  in  many  other  arts.  By 
the  teaching  of  these  men  the  king's  mind  was  much  enlarged, 
and  he  enriched  and  honored  them  with  much  influence. 

(b) 

King  Alfred  greets  Bishop  Werfrith  with  loving  words  and  with 
friendship. 

I  let  it  be  known  to  thee  that  it  has  very  often  come  into  my 
mind  what  wise  men  there  formerly  were  throughout  England, 
Alfred  writes      both  within  the  Church  and  without  it;  also  what 

to  Bishop  Wer-  happy  times  there  were  then  and  how  the  kings 
frith  on  the  ™J  '  .        .  ~° 

state  of  learn-    who  had  power  over  the  nation  in  those  days 

ing  in  England  0beyed  qocj  anc[  His  ministers;  how  they  cherished 
peace,  morality,  and  order  at  home,  and  at  the  same  time  en- 
larged their  territory  abroad;  and  how  they  prospered  both  in 
war  and  in  wisdom.  Often  have  I  thought,  also,  'of  the  sacred 
orders,  how  zealous  they  were  both  in  teaching  and  learning, 
and  in  all  the  services  they  owed  to  God;  and  how  foreigners 
came  to  this  land  in  search  of  wisdom  and  instruction,  which 
things  we  should  now  have  to  get  from  abroad  if  we  were  to  have 
them  at  all. 

So  general  became  the  decay  of  learning  in  England  that  there 
were  very  few  on  this  side  of  the  Humber  2  who  could  understand 
the  rituals3  in  English,  or  translate  a  letter  from  Latin  into 

once  been  abbot  of  St.  Bertin.  We  do  not  know  in  what  year  Grimbald 
went  to  England,  though  there  is  some  evidence  that  it  was  not  far  from 
887. 

1  John  the  Old  Saxon  is  mentioned  by  Alfred  as  his  mass-priest.  It  is 
probable  that  he  came  from  the  abbey  of  Corbei  on  the  upper  Weser.  Not 
much  is  known  about  the  man,  but  if  he  was  as  learned  as  Asser  says  he  was, 
he  must  have  been  a  welcome  addition  to  Alfred's  group  of  scholars  par- 
ticularly as  the  language  which  he  used  was  very  similar  to  that  of  the  West 
Saxons  in  England. 

2  That  is,  south  of  the  Humber. 

3  The  service  of  the  Church. 


192      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 

English;  and  I  believe  that  there  were  not  many  beyond  the 
Humber  who  could  do  these  things.  There  were  so  few,  in  fact, 
that  I  cannot  remember  a  single  person  south  of  the  Thames 
when  I  came  to  the  throne..  Thanks  be  to  Almighty  God  that  we 
now  have  some  teachers  among  us.  And  therefore  I  enjoin  thee 
to  free  thyself,  as  I  believe  thou  art  ready  to  do,  from  worldly 
matters,  that  thou  mayst  apply  the  wisdom  which  God  has  given 
thee  wherever  thou  canst.  Consider  what  punishments  would 
come  upon  us  if  we  neither  loved  wisdom  ourselves  nor  allowed 
other  men  to  obtain  it.  We  should  then  care  for  the  name  only 
of  Christian,  and  have  regard  for  very  few  of  the  Christian 
virtues. 

,  When  I  thought  of  all  this  I  remembered  also  how  I  saw  the 
country  before  it  had  been  all  ravaged  and  burned;  how  the 
churches  throughout  the  whole  of  England  stood  filled  with 
treasures  and  books.  There  was  also  a  great  multitude  of  God's 
servants,  but  they  had  very  little  knowledge  of  books,  for  they 
could  not  understand  anything  in  them  because  they  were  not 
written  in  their  own  language.1  When  I  remembered  all  this  I 
Learning  in  wondered  extremely  that  the  good  and  wise  men 
fo^e  the^Dan-  wno  were  formerly  all  over  England  and  had 
ish  invasions  learned  perfectly  all  the  books,  did  not  wish  to 
translate  them  into  their  own  language.  But  again  I  soon 
answered  myself  and  said:  " Their  own  desire  for  learning  was 
so  great  that  they  did  not  suppose  that  men  would  ever  become 
so  indifferent  and  that  learning  would  ever  so  decay;  and  they 
wished,  moreover,  that  wisdom  in  this  land  might  increase  with 
our  knowledge  of  languages."  Then  I  remembered  how  the 
law  was  first  known  in  Hebrew  and  when  the  Greeks  had  learned 
it  how  they  translated  the  whole  of  it  into  their  own  tongue,2  and 

1  They  were  written,  of  course,  in  Latin. 

2  By  the  middle  of  the  third  century  a.  d.  as  many  as  three  different 
translations  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Greek  had  been  made — those  of 
Aquila,  Theodotion,  and  Symmochus.  These  eventually  took  fixed  shape 
in  the  so-called  Septuagint  version  of  the  Old  Testament. 


193 

all  other  books  besides.  And  again  the  Romans,  when  they  had 
learned  it,  translated  the  whole  of  it  into  their  own  language.1 
And  also  all  other  Christian  nations  translated  a  part  of  it  into 
their  languages. 

Therefore  it  seems  better  to  me,  if  you  agree,  for  us  also  to 
translate  some  of  the  books  which  are  most  needful  for  all  men 
Plan  to  trans-  to  know  into  the  language  which  we  can  all 
books  Into  understand.     It  shall  be  your  duty  to  see  to  it, 

English  as  can  easily  be   done   if   we   have   tranquility 

enough,2  that  all  the  free-born  youth  now  in  England,  who  are 
rich  enough  to  be  able  to  devote  themselves  to  it,  be  set  to  learn 
as  long  as  they  are  not  fit  for  any  other  occupation,  until  they  are 
well  able  to  read  English  writing.  And  let  those  afterwards  be 
taught  more  in  the  Latin  language  who  are  to  continue  learning 
and  be  promoted  to  a  higher  rank. 

When  I  remembered  how  the  knowledge  of  Latin  had  decayed 
through  England,  and  yet  that  many  could  read  English  writing, 
I  began,  among  other  various  and  manifold  troubles  of  this 
kingdom,  to  translate  into  English  the  book  which  is  called  in 
The  transla-  Latin  Pastoralis,  and  in  English  The  Shepherd's 
Gregory' s*Pas-  Book,  sometimes  word  for  word,  and  sometimes 
toral  Care  according  to  the  sense,  as  I  had  learned  it  from 

Plegmund,  my  archbishop,  and  Asser,  my  bishop,  and  Grimbald, 
my  mass-priest,  and  John,  my  mass-priest.  And  when  I  had 
learned  it,  as  I  could  best  understand  it  and  most  clearly  interpret 
it,  I  translated  it  into  English. 

I  will  send  a  copy  of  this  book  to  every  bishopric  in  my  king- 
dom, and  on  each  copy  there  shall  be  a  clasp  worth  fifty  man- 


i  About  the  year  385  St.  Jerome  revised  the  older  Latin  translation  of 
the  New  Testament  and  translated  the  Old  Testament  directly  from  the 
Hebrew.  This  complete  version  gradually  superseded  all  others  for  the 
whole  Latin-reading  Church,  being  known  as  the  "Vulgate,"  that  is,  the 
version  commonly  accepted.  It  was  in  the  form  of  the  Vulgate  that  the 
Scriptures  were  known  to  the  Saxons  and  all  other  peoples  of  western  Europe. 

2  In  other  words,  sufficient  relief  from  the  Danish  incursions. 

3  The  mancus  was  a  Saxon  money  value  equivalent  to  a  mark. 

Med.  His.— 13 


194      ALFRED  THE  GREAT  IN  WAR  AND  IN  PEACE 

clasp  from  the  book,  or  the  book  from  the  minster.1  It  is  uncer- 
tain how  long  there  may  be  such  learned  bishops  as,  thanks  be 
to  God,  there  now  are  almost  everywhere;  therefore,  I  wish  these 
copies  always  to  remain  in  their  places,  unless  the  bishop  desires 
to  take  them  with  him,  or  they  be  loaned  out  anywhere,  or  any 
one  wishes  to  make  a  copy  of  them. 

32.  Alfred's  Laws 

Here  are  a  few  characteristic  laws  included  by  Alfred  in  the  code 
which  he  drew  up  on  the  basis  of  old  customs  and  the  laws  of  some  of 
the  earlier  Saxon  kings.  On  the  nature  of  the  law  of  the  early  Ger- 
manic peoples,  see  p.  59. 

Source — Text   in  Benjamin  Thorpe,  The  Ancient  Laws   and   Institutes  of 
England  (London,  1840),  pp.  20-44  passim. 

If  any  one  smite  his  neighbor  with  a  stone,  or  with  his  fist,  and 
he  nevertheless  can  go  out  with  a  staff,  let  him  get  him  a  physician 
and  do  his  work  as  long  as  he  himself  cannot. 

If  an  ox  gore  a  man  or  a  woman,  so  that  they  die,  let  it  be 
stoned,  and  let  not  its  flesh  be  eaten.  The  owner  shall  not  be 
liable  if  the  ox  were  wont  to  push  with  its  horns  for  two  or  three 
days  before,  and  he  knew  it  not;  but  if  he  knew  it,  and  would  not 
shut  it  in,  and  it  then  shall  have  slain  a  man  or  a  woman,  let  it 
be  stoned;  and  let  the  master  be  slain,  or  the  person  killed  be 
paid  for,  as  the  "  wit  an  " 2  shall  decree  to  be  right. 

Injure  ye  not  the  widows  and  the  stepchildren,  nor  hurt  them 
anywhere;  for  if  ye  do  otherwise  they  will  cry  unto  me  and  I  will 
hear  them,  and  I  will  slay  you  with  my  sword;  and  I  will  cause 
that  your  own  wives  shall  be  widows,  and  your  children  shall  be 
stepchildren. 

If  a  man  strike  out  another's  eye,  let  him  pay  sixty  shillings, 

1  A  minster  was  a  church  attached  to  a  monastery. 

2  The  witan  was  the  gathering  of  "  wisemen  " — members  of  the  royal 
family,  high  officials  in  the  Church,  and  leading  nobles — about  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  king  to  assist  in  making  ordinances  and  supervising  the  affairs  of  state. 


195 

and  six  shillings,  and  six  pennies,  and  a  third  part  of  a  penny,  as 
'hot.'1  If  it  remain  in  the  head,  and  he  cannot  see  anything 
with  it,  let  one-third  of  the  'bot'  be  remitted. 

If  a  man  strike  out  another's  tooth  in  the  front  of  his  head, 

Penalties  for      ^et  ^m  ma^e  'hot*  f°r  ft  with  eight  shillings;  if 

various  crimes    it  be  the  canine  tooth,  let  four  shillings  be  paid 

as '  bot . '    A  man's  grinder  is  worth  fifteen  shillings. 

If  the  shooting  finger  be  struck  off,  the  'bot'  is  fifteen  shillings; 
for  its  nail  it  is  four  shillings. 

If  a  man  maim  another's  hand  outwardly,  let  twenty  shillings 
be  paid  him  as  'bot/  if  he  can  be  healed;  if  it  half  fly  off,  then 
shall  forty  shillings  be  paid  as  'bot.' 

i  Compensation  rendered  to  an  injured  person. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  ORDEAL 

33.   Tests  by  Hot  Water,  Cold  Water,  and  Fire 

Among  the  early  Germans  the  settling  of  disputes  and  the  testing 
of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  an  accused  person  were  generally  accom- 
plished through  the  employment  of  one  Or  both  of  two  very  interesting 
judicial  practices — compurgation  and  the  ordeal.  According  to  the 
German  conception  of  justice,  when  one  person  was  accused  of  wrong- 
doing by  another  and  chose  to  defend  himself,  he  was  not  under  ob- 
ligation to  prove  directly  that  he  did  not  commit  the  alleged  misdeed ; 
rather  it  was  his  business  to  produce,  if  he  could,  a  sufficient  number 
of  persons  who  would  take  oath  that  they  believed  the  accused  to 
be  a  trustworthy  man  and  that  he  was  telling  the  truth  when  he 
denied  that  he  was  guilty.  The  persons  brought  forward  to  take  this 
oath  were  known  as  compurgators,  or  "co-swearers/'  and  the  legal 
act  thus  performed  was  called  compurgation.  The  number  of  com- 
purgators required  to  free  a  man  was  usually  from  seven  to  twelve, 
though  it  varied  greatly  among  different  tribes  and  according  to  the 
rank  of  the  parties  involved.  Naturally  they  were  likely  to  be  relatives 
or  friends  of  the  accused  man,  though  it  was  not  essential  that  they 
be  such.  It  was  in  no  wise  expected  that  they  be  able  to  give  facts  or 
evidence  regarding  the  case;  in  other  words,  they  were  not  to  serve  at 
all  as  witnesses,  such  as  are  called  in  our  courts  to-day. 

If  the  accused  succeeded  in  producing  the  required  number  of  com- 
purgators, and  they  took  the  oath  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  the  de- 
fendant was  usually  declared  to  be  innocent  and  the  case  was  dropped. 
If,  however,  the  compurgators  were  not  forthcoming,  or  there  ap- 
peared some  irregularity  in  their  part  of  the  procedure,  resort  would 
ordinarily  be  had  to  the  ordeal.    The  ordeal  was  essentially  an  appeal 

196 


TESTS   BY   HOT  WATER,    COLD   WATER,    AND    FIRE  197 

to  the  gods  for  decision  between  two  contending  parties.  It  was  based 
on  the  belief  that  the  gods  would  not  permit  an  innocent  person  to 
suffer  by  reason  of  an  unjust  accusation  and  that  when  the  opportunity 
was  offered  under  certain  prescribed  conditions  the  divine  power  would 
indicate  who  was  in  the  right  and  who  in  the  wrong.  The  ordeal,  hav- 
ing its  origin  far  back  in  the  times  when  the  Germans  were  pagans 
and  before  their  settlements  in  the  Roman  Empire,  was  retained  in 
common  usage  after  the  Christianizing  and  civilizing  of  the  barbarian 
tribes.  The  administering  of  it  simply  passed  from  the  old  pagan 
priests  to  the  Christian  clergy,  and  the  appeals  were  directed  to  the 
Christian's  God  instead  of  to  Woden  and  Thor.  Under  Christian  in- 
fluence, the  wager  of  battle  (or  personal  combat  to  settle  judicial  ques- 
tions), which  had  been  exceedingly  common,  was  discouraged  as  much 
as  possible,  and  certain  new  modes  of  appeal  to  divine  authority  were 
introduced.  Throughout  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  the  chief  forms  of 
the  ordeal  were:  (1)  the  ordeal  by  walking  through  fire;  (2)  the  ordeal 
by  hot  iron,  in  which  the  accused  either  carried  a  piece  of  hot  iron  a 
certain  distance  in  his  hands  or  walked  barefoot  over  pieces  of  the 
same  material;  (3)  the  ordeal  by  hot  water,  in  which  the  accused  was 
required  to  plunge  his  bared  arm  into  boiling  water  and  bring  forth  a 
stone  or  other  object  from  the  bottom;  (4)  the  ordeal  by  cold  water, 
in  which  the  accused  was  thrown,  bound  hand  and  foot,  into  a  pond  or 
stream,  to  sink  if  he  were  innocent,  to  float  if  he  were  guilty;  (5)  the 
ordeal  of  the  cross,  in  which  the  accuser  and  accused  stood  with  arms 
outstretched  in  the  form  of  a  cross  until  one  of  them  could  endure  the 
strain  of  the  unnatural  attitude  no  longer;  (6)  the  ordeal  of  the  sacra- 
ment, in  which  the  accused  partook  of  the  sacrament,  the  idea  being 
that  divine  vengeance  would  certainly  fall  upon  him  in  so  doing  if  he 
were  guilty;  (7)  the  ordeal  of  the  bread  and  cheese,  in  which  the  ac- 
cused, made  to  swallow  morsels  of  bread  and  cheese,  was  expected  to 
choke  if  he  were  guilty;  and  (8)  the  judicial  combat,  which  was  gen- 
erally reserved  for  freemen,  and  which,  despite  the  opposition  of  the 
Church,  did  not  die  out  until  the  end  of  the  mediaeval  period. 

The  three  passages  quoted  below  illustrate,  respectively,  the  ordeal 
by  hot  water,  by  cold  water,  and  by  fire.  The  first  (a)  is  a  story  told 
by  the  Frankish  historian  Gregory  of  Tours  [see  p.  46].  The  second  (b) 
is  an  explanation  of  the  cold  water  ordeal  written  by  Hincmar,  an  arch- 


198  THE   ORDEAL 

bishop  of  Rheims  in  the  ninth  century.  The  third  (c)  is  an  account, 
by  Raymond  of  Agiles,  of  how  Peter  Bartholomew  was  put  to  the 
test  by  the  ordeal  of  fire.  This  incident  occurred  at  Antioch  during 
the  first  crusade.  Peter  Bartholomew  had  just  discovered  a  lance 
which  he  claimed  was  the  one  thrust  into  the  side  of  Christ  at  the 
crucifixion  and,  some  of  the  crusaders  being  skeptical  as  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  relic,  the  discoverer  was  submitted  to  the  ordeal  by  fire  to 
test  the  matter. 


Sources — (a)  Gregorius  Episcopus  Turonensis,  Libri  Miraculorum  [Gregory 
of  Tours,  "Books  of  Miracles"],  Chap.  80.  Text  in  Monumenta 
Germanics  Historica,  Scriptores  Merovingicarum,  Vol.  I.,  p.  542. 
Translated  by  Arthur  C.  Howland  in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations 
and  Reprints,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  4,  pp.  10-11. 

(b)  Hincmari  Archiepiscopi  Rhemensis,  De  divortio  Lotharii  regis 
et  Tetbergo3  regime  [Hincmar,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  "The  Di- 
vorce of  King  Lothair  and  Queen  Teutberga ' '],  Chap.  6.  Text  in 
Migne,  Patrologiw  Cursus  Completus,  Second  Series,  Vol.  CXXV., 
cols.  668-669.     Translated  by  Arthur  C.  Howland,  ibid. 

(c)  Raimundus  de  Agiles,  Historia  Francorum  qui  ceperunt  Jerus- 
alem [Raimond  of  Agiles,  "  History  of  the  Franks  who  captured 
Jerusalem"],  Chap.  18.  Text  in  Migne,  Patrologice  Cursus  Com- 
pletus, Second  Series,  Vol.  CLV.,  cols.  619-621. 

An  Arian  presbyter,  disputing  with  a  deacon  of  our  religion, 
made  venomous  assertions  against  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  as  is  the  habit  of  that  sect.1  But  when  the  deacon  had 
discoursed  a  long  time  concerning  the  reasonableness  of  our  faith, 
and  the  heretic,  blinded  by  the  fog  of  unbelief,  continued  to  reject 
the  truth  (according  as  it  is  written,  "  Wisdom  shall  not  enter 

1  The  principal  difference  between  Arian  and  orthodox  Christians  arose  out 
of  the  much  discussed  problem  as  to  whether  Jesus  was  of  the  same  sub- 
stance as  God  and  co-eternal  with  Him.  The  Arians  maintained  that  while 
Jesus  was  truly  the  Son  of  God,  He  must  necessarily  have  been  inferior  to 
the  Father,  else  there  would  be  two  gods.  Arianism  was  formally  con- 
demned by  the  Council  of  Nicaea  in  325,  but  it  continued  to  be  the  prevalent 
belief  in  many  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire;  and  when  the  Germans  became 
Christians,  it  was  Christianity  of  the  Arian  type  (except  in  the  case  of  the 
Franks)  that  they  adopted — because  it  happened  to  be  this  creed  that  the 
missionaries  carried  to  them.  The  Franks  became  orthodox  Christians, 
which  in  part  explains  their  close  relations  with  the  papacy  in  the  earlier 
Middle  Ages  [see  p.  50],  Of  course  Gregory  of  Tours,  who  relates  the  story 
of  the  Arian  presbyter,  as  a  Frank,  was  a  hater  of  Arianism,  and  therefore  we 
need  not  be  surprised  at  the  expressions  of  contempt  which  he  employs  in 
referring  to   "the  heretic." 


TESTS   BY   HOT   WATER,    COLD    WATER,    AND    FIRE  199 

the  mind  of  the  wicked ")  the  former  said:  "Why  weary  our- 
selves with  long  discussions?     Let  acts  demonstrate  the  truth. 

....  Let  a  kettle  be  heated  over  the  fire  and  some  one's 

A  challenge  to 

the  ordeal  by  ring  be  thrown  into  the  boiling  water.  Let  him 
who  shall  take  it  from  the  heated  liquid  be  ap- 
proved as  a  follower  of  the  truth,  and  afterwards  let  the  other 
party  be  converted  to  the  knowledge  of  this  truth.  And  do  thou 
understand,  O  heretic,  that  this  our  party  will  fulfill  the  condi- 
tions with  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  thou  shalt  confess  that  there 
is  no  inequality,  no  dissimilarity,  in  the  Holy  Trinity."  The 
heretic  consented  to  the  proposition  and  they  separated,  after 
appointing  the  next  morning  for  the  trial.  But  the  fervor  of 
faith  in  which  the  deacon  had  first  made  this  suggestion  began 
to  cool  through  the  instigation  of  the  enemy  [i.  e.,  Satan].  Rising 
with  the  dawn,  he  bathed  his  arm  in  oil  and  smeared  it  with 
ointment.  But  nevertheless  he  made  the  round  of  the  sacred 
places  and  called  in  prayer  on  the  Lord.  What  more  shall  I  say? 
About  the  third  hour  they  met  in  the  market  place.  The  people 
came  together  to  see  the  show.  A  fire  was  lighted,  the  kettle  was 
Preparations  placed  upon  it,  and  when  it  grew  very  hot  the 
for  the  ordeal  rjng  wag  thrown  into  the  boiling  water.  The 
deacon  invited  the  heretic  to  take  it  out  of  the  water  first.  But 
he  promptly  refused,  saying,  "Thou  who  didst  propose  this  trial 
art  the  one  to  take  it  out."  The  deacon,  all  of  a  tremble,  bared 
his  arm.  And  when  the  heretic  presbyter  saw  it  besmeared  with 
ointment  he  cried  out:  "With  magic  arts  thou  hast  thought  to 
protect  thyself,  that  thou  hast  made  use  of  these  salves,  but  what 
thou  hast  done  will  not  avail."  While  they  were  thus  quarreling, 
there  came  up  a  deacon  from  Ravenna  named  Iacinthus,  who 
inquired  what  the  trouble  was  about.  When  he  learned  the  truth, 
he  drew  his  arm  out  from  under  his  robe  at  once  and  plunged  his 
right  hand  into  the  kettle.  Now  the  ring  that  had  been  thrown 
in  was  a  little  thing  and  very  light,  so  that  it  was  tossed  about 
by  the  water  as  chaff  would  be  blown  about  by  the  wind;  and. 


200  THE   ORDEAL 

searching  for  it  a  long  time,  he  found  it  after  about  an  hour. 
Meanwhile  the  flame  beneath  the  kettle  blazed  up  mightily,  so 
that  the  greater  heat  might  make  it  difficult  for  the  ring  to  be 
followed  by  the  hand;  but  the  deacon  extracted  it  at  length  and 
Result  of  the  suffered  no  harm,  protesting  rather  that  at  the 
ordeal  bottom  the  kettle  was  cold  while  at  the  top  it  was 

just  pleasantly  warm.  When  the  heretic  beheld  this,  he  was 
greatly  confused  and  audaciously  thrust  his  hand  into  the  kettle 
saying,  "My  faith  will  aid  me."  As  soon  as  his  hand  had  been 
thrust  in,  all  the  flesh  was  boiled  off  the  bones  clear  up  to  the 
elbow.    And  so  the  dispute  ended. 

(b) 

Now  the  one  about  to  be  examined  is  bound  by  a  rope  and  cast 
into  the  water  because,  as  it  is  written,  "each  one  shall  be  holden 
with  the  cords  of  his  iniquity. "  And  it  is  manifest  that  he  is  bound 
for  two  reasons,  namely,  that  he  may  not  be  able  to  practice  any 
fraud  in  connection  with  the  judgment,  and  that  he  may  be  drawn 
out  at  the  right  time  if  the  water  should  receive  him  as  innocent, 
so  that  he  perish  not.  For  as  we  read  that  Lazarus,  who  had  been 
dead  four  days  (by  whom  is  signified  each  one  buried  under  a 
load  of  crimes),  was  buried  wrapped  in  bandages  and,  bound  by 
the  same  bands,  came  forth  from  the  sepulchre  at  the  word  of 
How  the  or-  the  Lord  and  was  loosed  by  the  disciples  at  His 
water  is* to  be  command;  so  he  who  is  to  be  examined  by  this 
conducted  judgment  is  cast  into  the  water  bound,  and  is 

drawn  forth  again  bound,  and  is  either  immediately  set  free  by 
the  decree  of  the  judges,  being  purged,  or  remains  bound  un- 
til the  time  of  his  purgation  and  is  then  examined  by  the  court. 
.  .  .  And  in  this  ordeal  of  cold  water  whoever,  after  the  in- 
vocation of  Clod,  who  is  the  Truth,  seeks  to  hide  the  truth  by  a 
lie,  cannot  be  submerged  in  the  waters  above  which  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  God  has  thundered;  for  the  pure  nature  of  the  water 
recognizes  as  impure,  and  therefore  rejects  as  inconsistent  with 


TESTS    BY   HOT   WATER,    COLD   WATER,    AND    FIRE  201 

itself,  such  human  nature  as  has  once  been  regenerated  by  the 
waters  of  baptism  and  is  again  infected  by  falsehood. 

(c) 

All  these  things  were  pleasing  to  us  and,  having  enjoined  on 
him  a  fast,  we  declared  that  a  fire  should  be  prepared  upon  the 
day  on  which  the  Lord  was  beaten  with  stripes  and  put  upon 
the  cross  for  our  salvation.  And  the  fourth  day  thereafter  was 
the  day  before  the  Sabbath.  So  when  the  appointed  day  came 
round,  a  fire  was  prepared  after  the  noon  hour.  The  leaders  and 
the  people  to  the  number  of  60,000  came  together.  The  priests 
PreDarations  were  there  also  with  bare  feet,  clothed  in  ecclesi- 
for  the  ordeal  astical  garments.  The  fire  was  made  of  dry 
olive  branches,  covering  a  space  thirteen  feet 
long;  and  there  were  two  piles,  with  a  space  about  a  foot  wide 
between  them.  The  height  of  these  piles  was  four  feet.  Now 
when  the  fire  had  been  kindled  so  that  i.t  burned  fiercely,  I,  Rai- 
mond,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  multitude,  said:  "  If  Omnipo- 
tent God  has  spoken  to  this  man  face  to  face,  and  the  blessed  An- 
drew has  shown  him  our  Lord's  lance  while  he  was  keeping  his 
vigil,1  let  him  go  through  the  fire  unharmed.  But  if  it  is  false, 
let  him  be  burned,  together  with  the  lance,  which  he  is  to  carry 
in  his  hand."    And  all  responded  on  bended  knees,  "Amen." 

The  fire  was  growing  so  hot  that  the  flames  shot  up  thirty 
cubits  high  into  the  air  and  scarcely  any  one  dared  approach 
Peter  Barthol-  it.  Then  Peter  Bartholomew,  clothed  only  in 
tSouffhThe8  ms  tunic  and  kneeling  before  the  bishop  of  Albar,2 
flames  called  God  to  witness  that  "he  had   seen   Him 

face  to  face  on  the  cross,  and  that  he  had  heard  from  Him  those 
things  above  written."  .  .  .  Then,  when  the  bishop  had 
placed  the  lance  in  his  hand,  he  knelt  and   made  the  sign  of 

1  The  story  as  told  by  Raimond  of  Agiles  was  that  Peter  Bartholomew  had 
been  visited  by  Andrew  the  Apostle,  who  had  revealed  to  him  the  spot  where 
the  lance  lay  buried  beneath  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  in  Antioch. 

2  Aibar,  or  Albara,  was  a  town  southeast  of  Antioch,  beyond  the  Orontes. 


202  THE   ORDEAL 

the  cross  and  entered  the  fire  with  the  lance,  firm  and  unter- 
rified.  For  an  instant's  time  he  paused  in  the  midst  of  the  flames, 
and  then  by  the  grace  of  God  passed  through.  .  .  .  But 
when  Peter  emerged  from  the  fire  so  that  neither  his  tunic  was 
burned  nor  even  the  thin  cloth  with  which  the  lance  was  wrapped 
up  had  sh6wn  any  sign  of  damage,  the  whole  people  received  him, 
after  he  had  made  over  them  the  sign  of  the  cross  with  the  lance 
in  his  hand  and  had  cried,  "God  help  us!"  All  the  people,  I 
say,  threw  themselves  upon  him  and  dragged  him  to  the  ground 
and  trampled  on  him,  each  one  wishing  to  touch  him,  or  to  get  a 
piece  of  his  garment,  and  each  thinking  him  near  some  one  else. 
And  so  he  received  three  or  four  wounds  in  the  legs  where  the 
flesh  was  torn  away,  his  back  was  injured,  and  his  sides  bruised. 
Peter  had  died  on  the  spot,  as  we  believe,  had  not  Raimond  Pelet, 
a  brave  and  noble  soldier,  broken  through  the  wild  crowd  with  a 
band  of  friends  and  rescued  him  at  the  peril  of  their  lives.  .  .  . 
After  this,  Peter  died  in  peace  at  the  hour  appointed  to  him  by 
God,  and  journeyed  to  the  Lord;  and  he  was  buried  in  the  place 
where  he  had  carried  the  lance  of  the  Lord  through  the  fire.1 

1  Owing  to  Peter's  early  death  after  undergoing  the  ordeal,  a  serious  con- 
troversy arose  as  to  whether  he  had  really  passed  through  it  without  injury 
from  the  fire.  His  friends  ascribed  his  death  to  the  wounds  he  had  received 
from  the  enthusiastic  crowd,  but  his  enemies  declared  that  he  died  from 
burns. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

34.   Older  Institutions  Involving  Elements  of  Feudalism 

The  history  of  the  feudal  system  in  Europe  makes  up  a  very  large 
part  of  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages,  particularly  of  the  period  be- 
tween the  ninth  and  the  fourteenth  centuries.  This  is  true  because 
feudalism,  in  one  way  or  another,  touched  almost  every  phase  of  the 
life  of  western  Europe  during  this  long  era.  More  than  anything  else, 
it  molded  the  conditions  of  government,  the  character  and  course  of 
war,  the  administration  of  justice,  the  tenure  of  land,  the  manner  of 
everyday  life,  and  even  the  relations  of  the  Church  with  sovereigns 
and  people.  "Coming  into  existence,"  says  a  French  historian,  "in 
the  obscure  period  that  followed  the  dissolution  of  the  Carolingian 
empire,  the  feudal  regime  developed  slowly,  without  the  intervention 
of  a  government,  without  the  aid  of  a  written  law,  without  any  general 
understanding  among  individuals ;  rather  only  by  a  gradual  transforma- 
tion of  customs,  which  took  place  sooner  or  later,  but  in  about  the  same 
way,  in  France,  Italy,  Christian  Spain,  and  Germany.  Then,  toward 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  it  was  transplanted  into  England  and 
into  southern  Italy,  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  into  the  Latin  states 
of  the  East,  and  beginning  with  the  fourteenth  into  the  Scandinavian 
countries.  This  regime,  established  thus  not  according  to  a  general 
plan  but  by  a  sort  of  natural  growth,  never  had  forms  and  usages  that 
were  everywhere  the  same.  It  is  impossible  to  gather  it  up  into  a 
perfectly  exact  picture,  which  would  not  be  in  contradiction  to  several 
cases."  ! 

The  country  in  which  feudalism  reached  its  fullest  perfection  was 
France  and  most  of  the  passages  here  given  to  illustrate  the  subject 

1  Charles  Seignobos,  The  Feudal  Regime  (translated  in  "Historical  Miscel- 
lany" series),  New  York,  1904,  p.  1. 

203 


204  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

have  to  do  with  French  life  and  institutions.  In  France,  speaking  gen- 
erally, feudalism  took  shape  during  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 
developed  steadily  until  the  thirteenth,  and  then  slowly  declined, 
leaving  influences  on  society  which  have  not  yet  all  disappeared.  When 
the  system  was  complete — say  by  the  tenth  century — we  can  see  in  it 
three  essential  elements  which  may  be  described  as  the  personal,  the 
territorial,  and  the  governmental.  The  personal  element,  in  brief,  was 
the  relation  between  lord  and  vassal  under  which  the  former  gave 
protection  in  return  for  the  latter 's  fidelity.  The  territorial  element 
was  the  benefice,  or  fief,  granted  to  the  vassal  by  the  lord  to  be  used 
on  certain  conditions  by  the  former  while  the  title  to  it  remained  with 
the  latter.  The  governmental  element  was  the  rights  of  jurisdiction 
over  his  fief  usually  given  by  a  lord  to  his  vassal,  especially  if  the  fief 
were  an  important  one.  At  one  time  it  was  customary  to  trace  back 
all  these  features  of  the  feudal  system  to  the  institutions  of  Rome. 
Later  it  became  almost  as  customary  to  trace  them  to  the  institutions 
of  the  early  Germans.  But  recent  scholarship  shows  that  it  is  quite 
unnecessary,  in  fact  very  misleading,  to  attempt  to  ascribe  them  wholly 
to  either  Roman  or  German  sources,  or  even  to  both  together.  All  that 
we  can  say  is  that  in  the  centuries  preceding  the  ninth  these  elements 
all  existed  in  the  society  of  western  Europe  and  that,  while  something 
very  like  them  ran  far  back  into  old  Roman  and  German  times,  they 
existed  in  sixth  and  seventh  century  Europe  primarily  because  con- 
ditions were  then  such  as  to  demand  their  existence.  Short  extracts  to 
illustrate  the  most  important  of  these  old  feudal  elements  are  given 
below.  It  should  constantly  be  borne  in  mind  that  no  one  of  these 
things — whether  vassalage,  the  benefice,  or  the  immunity — was  in  itself 
feudalism.  Most  of  them  could,  and  did,  exist  separately,  and  it  was 
only  when  they  were  united,  as  commonly  became  the  case  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries,  that  the  word  feudalism  can  properly  be  brought 
into  use,  and  then  only  as  applied  to  the  complete  product. 

(1)  Vassalage 

For  the  personal  element  in  feudalism  it  is  possible  to  find  two  proto- 
types, one  Roman  and  the  other  German.  The  first  was  the  institution 
of  the  later  Empire  known  as  the  patrocinium — the  relation  established 


THE  EARLY  ELEMENTS  OF  FEUDALISM         205 

between  a  powerful  man  (patron)  and  a  weak  one  (client)  when  the 
latter  pledged  himself  to  perform  certain  services  for  the  former  in 
return  for  protection.  The  second  was  the  German  comitatus — a  band 
of  young  warriors  who  lived  with  a  prince  or  noble  and  went  on  cam- 
paigns under  his  leadership.  The  patrocinium  doubtless  survived  in 
Roman  Gaul  long  after  the  time  of  the  Frankish  invasion,  but  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  comitatus  ever  played  much  part  in  that  country.  It 
seems  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  king,  the  Frankish  men  of  in- 
fluence did  not  have  bands  of  personal  followers  after  the  settlement 
on  Roman  soil.  But,  wholly  aside  from  earlier  practices,  the  condi- 
tions which  the  conquest,  and  the  later  struggles  of  the  rival  kings, 
brought  about  made  it  still  necessary  for  many  men  who  could  not 
protect  themselves  or  their  property  to  seek  the  favor  of  some  one  who 
was  strong  enough  to  give  them  aid.  The  name  which  came  to  be 
applied  to  the  act  of  establishing  this  personal  relation  was  commenda- 
tion. The  man  who  promised  the  protection  was  the  lord,  and  the  man 
who  pledged  himself  to  serve  the  lord  and  be  faithful  to  him  was  the 
homo,  after  the  eighth  century  known  as  the  vassal  (vassus).  In  the 
eighth  century,  when  the  power  of  the  Merovingian  kings  was  ebtting 
away  and  the  people  were  left  to  look  out  for  themselves,  large  num- 
bers entered  into  the  vassal  relation;  and  in  the  ninth  century,  when 
Carolingian  power  was  likewise  running  low  and  the  Northmen,  Hun- 
garians, and  Saracens  were  ravaging  the  country,  scarcely  a  free  man 
was  left  who  did  not  secure  for  himself  the  protection  of  a  lord.  The 
relation  of  vassalage  was  first  recognized  as  legal  in  the  capitularies  of 
Charlemagne.  Here  is  a  Frankish  formula  of  commendation  dating 
from  the  seventh  century — practically  a  blank  application  in  which  the 
names  of  the  prospective  lord  and  vassal  could  be  inserted  as  required. 

Source — Eugene  de  Roziere ,  Recueil  General  des  Formules  usitees  dans  l' Empire 
des  Francs  du  Ve  an  Xe  siecle  ["General  Collection  of  Formulae 
employed  in  the  Frankish  Empire  from  the  Fifth  to  the  Tenth 
Century"],  Vol.  I.,  p.  69.  Translated  by  Edward  P.  Cheyney  in 
Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  3,  pp.  3-4. 

To  that  magnificent  lord ,  I, .     Since  it  is 

well  known  to  all  how  little  I  have  wherewith  to  feed  and  clothe 
myself,  I  have  therefore  petitioned  your  piety,  and  your  good- 


206  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

will  has  decreed  to  me,  that  I  should  hand  myself  over,  or  com- 
mend myself,  to  your  guardianship,  which  I  have  thereupon 
done;  that  is  to  say,  in  this  way,  that  you  should  aid  and  succor 
me,  as  well  with  food  as  with  clothing,  according  as"  I  shall  be 
able  to  serve  you  and  deserve  it. 

And  so  long  as  I  shall  live  I  ought  to  provide  service  and 
honor  to  you,  compatible  with  my  free  condition; 1  and  I  shall 
not,  during  the  time  of  my  life,  have  the  right  to  withdraw  from 
your  control  or  guardianship;  but  must  remain  during  the  days 
of  my  life  under  your  power  or  defense.  Wherefore  it  is  proper 
that  if  either  of  us  shall  wish  to  withdraw  himself  from  these 

agreements,  he  shall  pay shillings  to  the  other  party, 

and  this  agreement  shall  remain  unbroken.2 

(Wherefore  it  is  fitting  that  they  should  make  or  confirm 
between  themselves  two  letters  drawn  up  in  the  same  form  on 
this  matter;  which  they  have  thus  done.) 

(2)  The  Benefice 

The  benefice,  or  grant  of  land  to  a  vassel  by  a  lord,  by  the  Church, 
or  by  the  king,  had  its  origin  among  the  Franks  in  what  were  known 
as  the  precaria  of  the  Church.  At  the  time  of  the  Frankish  settlement 
in  Gaul,  it  was  quite  customary  for  the  Church  to  grant  land  to  men  in 
answer  to  preces  ("prayers,"  or  requests),  on  condition  that  it  might 
be  recalled  at  any  time  and  that  the  temporary  holder  should  be  unable 
to  enforce  any  claims  as  against  the  owner.  For  the  use  of  such  land  a 
small  rent  in  money,  in  produce,  or  in  service  was  usually  paid.  This 
form  of  tenure  among  the  Franks  was  at  first  restricted  to  church 
lands,  but  by  the  eighth  century  lay  owners,  even  the  king  himself,  had 
come  to  employ  it.  The  term  precarium  dropped  out  of  use  and  all  such 
grants,  by  whomsoever  made,  came  to  be  known  as  benefices  ("bene- 

1  A  man  was  not  supposed  in  any  way  to  sacrifice  his  freedom  by  becoming 
a  vassal  and  the  lord's  right  to  his  service  would  be  fo/feited  if  this  principle 
were  violated. 

2  The  relation  of  lord  and  vassal  was,  at  this  early  time,  limited  to  the 
lifetime  of  the  two  parties.  When  one  died,  the  other  was  liberated  from 
his  contract.  But  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  vassalage  became  gener- 
ally hereditary. 


THE   EARLY   ELEMENTS   OF   FEUDALISM  207 

fits, "  or  "favors").  The  ordinary  vassal  might  or  might  not  once  have 
had  land  in  his  own  name,  but  if  he  had  such  he  was  expected  to  give 
over  the  ownership  of  it  to  his  lord  and  receive  it  back  as  a  benefice  to 
be  used  on  certain  prescribed  conditions.  In  time  it  became  common, 
too,  for  lords  to  grant  benefices  out  of  their  own  lands  to  landless  vas- 
sals. A  man  could  be  a  vassal  without  having  a  benefice,  but  rarely, 
at  least  after  the  eighth  century,  could  he  have  a  benefice  without  en- 
tering into  the  obligations  of  vassalage.  Benefices  were  at  first  granted 
by  the  Church  with  the  understanding  that  they  might  be  recalled  at 
any  time;  later  they  were  granted  by  Church,  kings,  and  seigniors  for 
life,  or  for  a  certain  term  of  years;  and  finally,  in  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries,  they  came  generally  to  be  regarded  as  hereditary.  By  the 
time  the  hereditary  principle  had  been  established,  the  name  "fief" 
(feodum,  feudum — whence  our  word  feudal)  had  supplanted  the  older 
term  "  benefice."  The  tendency  of  the  personal  element  of  vassalage  and 
the  territorial  element  of  the  benefice,  or  fief,  to  merge  was  very  strong, 
and  by  the  tenth  century  nearly  every  vassal  was  also  a  fief-holder. 
The  following  formulae  belong  to  the  seventh  century.  The  first  (a)  is 
for  the  grant  of  lands  to  a  church  or  monastery;  the  second  (b)  for 
their  return  to  the  grantor  as  a  precarium — or  what  was  known  a 
century  later  as  a  benefice. 

Source — Eug&ne  de  Roziere,  Recueil  General  des  Formules,  Vol.  I.,  p.  473. 
Translated  by  E.  P.  Cheyney  in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and 
Reprints,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  3,  pp.  6-8. 

(a) 

I, ,  in  the  name  of  God.      I  have  settled  in  my  mind 

that  I  ought,  for  the  good  of  my  soul,  to  make  a  gift  of  something 
from  my  possessions,  which  I  have  therefore  done.     And  this 

is  what  I  hand  over,  in  the  district  named ,  in  the  place 

of  which  the  name  is ,  all  those  possessions  of  mine 

which  there  my  father  left  me  at  his  death,  and  which,  as  against 
my  brothers,  or  as  against  my  co-heirs,  the  lot  legitimately 
brought  me  in  the  division,1  or  those  which  I  was  able  afterward 

1  Casting  lots  for  the  property  of  a  deceased  father  was  not  uncommon 
among  the  Franks.  All  sons  shared  in  the  inheritance,  but  particular  parts 
of  the  property  were  often  assigned  by  lot. 


208  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

to  add  to  them  in  any  way,  in  their  whole  completeness,  that  is 
to  say,  the  courtyard  with  its  buildings,  with  slaves,  houses, 
Description  of  lands  (cultivated  and  uncultivated),  meadows, 
ed°to  V^church  wo°ds,  waters,  mills,  etc.  These,  as  I  have  said 
or  monastery  before,  with  all  the  things  adjacent  or  belonging 
to  them,  I  hand  over  to  the  church,  which  was  built  in  honor 

of  Saint ,  to  the  monastery  which  is  called , 

where  the  Abbot is  acknowledged  to  rule  regularly 

over  God's  flock.  On  these  conditions:  that  so  long  as  life 
remains  in  my  body,  I  shall  receive  from  you  as  a  benefice  for 
Terms  of  usufruct  the  possessions  above  described,  and  the 
the  contract  ^ue  payment  I  will  make  to  you  and  your  succes- 
sors each  year,  that  is [amount  named].     And  my  son 

shall  have  the  same  possessions  for  the  days  of  his  life,  and  shall 
make  the  above-named  payment;  and  if  my  children  should 
survive  me,  they  shall  have  the  same  possessions  during  the  days 
of  their  lives  and  shall  make  the  same  payment;  and  if  God  shall 
give  me  a  son  from  a  legitimate  wife,  he  shall  have  the  same 
possessions  for  the  days  of  his  life  only,  after  the  death  of  whom 
the  same  possessions,  with  all  their  improvements,  shall  return 
to  your  hands  to  be  held  forever;  and  if  it  should  be  my  chance 
to  beget  sons  from  a  legitimate  marriage,  these  shall  hold  the 
same  possessions  after  my  death,  making  the  above-named 
payment,  during  the  time  of  their  lives.  If  not,  however,  after 
my  death,  without  subterfuge  of  any  kind,  by  right  of  your 
authority,  the  same  possessions  shall  revert  to  you,  to  be  re- 
tained forever.  If  any  one,  however  (which  I  do  not  believe 
will  ever  occur) — if  I  myself,  or  any  other  person — shall  wish 
to  violate  the  firmness  and  validity  of  this  grant,  the  order  of 
truth  opposing  him,  may  his  falsity  in  no  degree  succeed;  and 
Penalty  for  for  his  bold  attempt  may  he  pay  to  the  afore- 
faithlessness  .  g^  monastery  double  the  amount  which  his 
ill-ordered  cupidity  has  been  prevented  from  abstracting;  and 
moreover  let  him  be  indebted  to  the  royal  authority  for 


THE   EARLY  ELEMENTS   OF  FEUDALISM  209 

solidi  of  gold;  and,  nevertheless,  let  the  present  charter  re- 
main inviolate  with  all  that  it  contains,  with  the  witnesses  placed 
below. 

Done   in ,    publicly,   those   who   are    noted    below 

being  present,  or  the  remaining  innumerable  multitude  of 
people. 

(b) 

In  the  name  of  God,  I,  Abbot ,  with  our  commis- 
sioned brethren.     Since  it  is  not  unknown  how  you, 7 

by  the  suggestion  of  divine  exhortation,  did  grant  to 

[monastery  named],  to  the  church  which  is  known  to  be  con- 
structed in  honor  of  Saint ,  where  we  by  God's  au- 
thority exercise  our  pastoral  care,  all  your  possessions  which 
you  seemed  to  have  in  the  district  named,  in  the  vill  [village] 
named,  which  your  father  on  his  death  bequeathed  to  you  there, 
or  which  by  your  own  labor  you  were  able  to  gain  there,  or 
which,  as  against  your  brother  or  against ,  a  co-heir, 

The  property  a  Just  division  Save  y°u>  with  courtyard  and 
again  de-  buildings,  gardens  and  orchards,  with  various 
scribed                  ,  ■>  1  ,       ,  , 

slaves, by  name,  houses,  lands,  mead- 
ows, woods  (cultivated  and  uncultivated),  or  with  all  the  de- 
pendencies and  appurtenances  belonging  to  it,  which  it  would 
be  extremely  long  to  enumerate,  in  all  their  completeness;  but 
Returned  to       afterwards,  at  your  request,  it  has  seemed  proper 

owne^tobe  to  us  to  cede  to  ^ou  *^e  same  possessions  to  be 
used  by  him  held  for  usufruct ;  and  you  will  not  neglect  to  pay 
at  annual  periods  the  due  census  [i.  e.,  the  rental]  hence,  that  is 

[amount  named].    And  if  God  should  give  you  a  son  by 

your  legal  wife,  he  shall  have  the  same  possessions  for  the  days 
of  his  life  only,  and  shall  not  presume  to  neglect  the  above  pay- 
ment, and  similarly  your  sons  which  you  are  seen  to  have  at 
present,  shall  do  for  the  days  of  their  lives;  after  the  death  of 
whom,  all  the  possassions  above-named  shall  revert  to  us  and 

Med.  Hist.— 14 


210  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

our  successors  perpetually.  Moreover,  if  no  sons  shall  have 
been  begotten  by  you,  immediately  after  your  death,  without 
any  harmful  contention,  the  possessions  shall  revert  to  the  rulers 
or  guardians  of  the  above-named  church,  forever.  Nor  may  any 
one,  either  ourselves  or  our  successors,  be  successful  in  a  rash 
attempt  inordinately  to  destroy  these  agreements,  but  just  as 
the  time  has  demanded  in  the  present  precaria,  may  that  be 
sure  to  endure  unchanged  which  we,  with  the  consent  of  our 
brothers,  have  decided  to  confirm. 

Done  in ,  in  the  presence  of and  of  others 

whom  it  is  not  worth  while  to  enumerate.  [Seal  of  the  same 
abbot  who  has  ordered  this  precaria  to  be  made.] 

(3)  The  Immunity 

The  most  important  element  in  the  governmental  phase  of  feudalism 
was  what  was  known  as  the  immunity.  In  Roman  law  immunity 
meant  exemption  from  taxes  and  public  services  and  belonged  espe- 
cially to  the  lands  owned  personally  by  the  emperors.  Such  exemp- 
tions were,  however,  sometimes  allowed  to  the  lands  of  imperial  officers 
and  of  men  in  certain  professions,  and  in  later  times  to  the  lands  held 
by  the  Church.  How  closely  this  Roman  immunity  was  connected 
with  the  feudal  immunity  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  not  clear.  Doubtless 
the  institution  survived  in  Gaul,  especially  on  church  lands,  long  after 
the  Frankish  conquest.  It  is  best,  however,  to  look  upon  the  typical 
Frankish  immunity  as  of  essentially  independent  origin.  From  the 
time  of  Clovis,  the  kings  were  accustomed  to  make  grants  of  the  sort 
to  land-holding  abbots  and  bishops,  and  by  the  time  of  Charlemagne 
nearly  all  such  prelates  had  been  thus  favored.  But  such  grants  were 
not  confined  to  ecclesiastics.  Even  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries 
lay  holders  of  royal  benefices  often  received  the  privileges  of  the  im- 
munity also.  Speaking  generally,  the  immunity  exempted  the  lands 
to  which  it  applied  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  local  royal  officials, 
especially  of  the  counts.  The  lands  were  supposed  to  be  none  the  less 
ultimately  subject  to  the  royal  authority,  but  by  the  grant  of  immunity 
the  sovereign  took  their  financial  and  judicial  administration  from  the 
counts,  who  would  ordinarily  have  charge,  and  gave  it  to  the  holders  of 


THE  EARLY  ELEMENTS  OF  FEUDALISM         211 

the  lands.  The  counts  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  specified  territories  to 
collect  taxes  or  fines,  hold  courts,  and  sometimes  even  to  arrange  for 
military  service.  The  layman,  or  the  bishop,  or  the  abbot,  who  held 
the  lands  performed  these  services  and  was  responsible  only  to  the 
crown  for  them.  The  king's  chief  object  in  granting  the  immunity  was 
to  reward  or  win  the  support  of  the  grantees  and  to  curtail  the  author- 
ity of  his  local  representatives,  who  in  many  cases  threatened  to  be- 
come too  powerful  for  the  good  of  the  state;  but  by  every  such  grant 
the  sovereign  really  lost  some  of  his  own  power,  and  this  practice  came 
to  be  in  no  small  measure  responsible  for  the  weakness  of  monarchy  in 
feudal  times. 

The  first  of  the  extracts  below  (a)  is  a  seventh-century  formula  for 
the  grant  of  an  immunity  by  the  king  to  a  bishop.  The  second  (b) 
is  a  grant  made  by  Charlemagne,  in  884,  confirming  an  old  immunity 
enjoyed  by  the  monastery  at  Chalons-sur-Sa6ne. 

Sources — (a)  Tex.t  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Legum  Sectio  V ., 
Formula,  Part  L,  pp.  43-44. 
(b)  Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Leges  (Pertz  ed.), 
Vol.  II.,  p.  287.  Adapted  from  translation  in  Ephraim  Emer- 
ton,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Middle  Ages  (new  ed. 
Boston,  1903),  p.  246. 

(a) 
We  believe  that  we  give  our  royal  authority  its  full  splendor 
if,  with  benevolent  intentions,  we  bestow  upon  churches — or 
upon  any  persons— the  favors  which  they  merit,  and  if,  with  the 
aid  of  God,  we  give  a  written  assurance  of  the  continuance  of 
these  favors.  We  wish,  then,  to  make  known  that  at  the  re- 
quest of  a  prelate,  lord  of [the  estate  named]  and  bishop 

of [the  church  named],  we  have  accorded  to  him,  for 

the  sake  of  our  eternal  salvation,  the  following  benefits:  that  in 
the  domains  of  the  bishop's  church,  both  those  which  it  possesses 
.  .  .  -  to-day  and  those  which  by  God's  grace  it  may 
a  grant  of  im-  later  acquire,  no  public  official  shall  be  permitted 
muni  y  ^  enter,  either  to  hold  courts  or  to  exact  fines, 

on  any  account;  but  let  these  prerogatives  be  vested  in  full  in 
the  bishop  and  his  successors.     We  ordain  therefore  that  neither 


212  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

you  nor  your  subordinates,1  nor  those  who  come  after  you,  nor 
any  person  endowed  with  a  public  office,  shall  ever  enter  the 
domains  of  that  church,  in  whatever  part  of  our  kingdom  they 
may  be  situated,  either  to  hold  trials  or  to  collect  fines.  All  the 
taxes  and  other  revenues  which  the  royal  treasury  has  a  right  to 
demand  from  the  people  on  the  lands  of  the  said  church,  whether 
they  be  freemen  or  slaves,  Romans  or  barbarians,  we  now  bestow 
on  the  said  church  for  our  future  salvation,  to  be  used  by  the 
officials  of  the  church  forever  for  the  best  interests  of  the  church. 

(b) 

Charles,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  the  Franks  and  Lom- 
bards and  Patrician  of  the  Romans,  to  all  having  charge  of  our 
affairs,  both  present  and  to  come: 

By  the  help  of  the  Lord,  who  has  raised  us  to  the  throne  of 
this  kingdom,  it  is  the  chief  duty  of  our  clemency  to  lend  a 
gracious  ear  to  the  need  of  all,  and  especially  ought  we  devoutly 
to  regard  that  which  we  are  persuaded  has  been  granted  by  pre- 
ceding kings  to  church  foundations  for  the  saving  of  souls,  and 
not  to  deny  fitting  benefits,  in  order  that  we  may  deserve  to  be 
partakers  of  the  reward,  but  to  confirm  them  in  still  greater 
security. 

Now  the  illustrious  Hubert,  bishop  and  ruler  of  the  church  of 
St.  Marcellus,  which  lies  below  the  citadel  of  Chalons,2  where  the 
The  old  im-         precious  martyr  of  the  Lord  himself  rests  in  the 

munity  en-  body,  has  brought  it  to  the  attention  of  our 
joyed  by  the  J  & 

monastery  at  Highness   that   the   kings   who   preceded   us,   or 

a  ons  Qur  jorcj  ancj  fatner  0f  blessed  memory,  Pepin,  the 

preceding  king,  had  by  their  charters  granted  complete  im- 
munities to  that  monastery,  so  that  in  the  towns  or  on  the  lands 

1  The  grant  of  immunity  was  thus  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  count 
in  whose  jurisdiction  the  exempted  lands  lay. 

2  Chalons-sur-Saone  was  about  eighty  miles  north  of  the  junction  of  the 
Saone  with  the  Rhone.  It  should  not  be  confused  with  Chalons-sur-Marne 
where  the  battle  was  fought  with  Attila's  Huns  in  451. 


THE  EARLY  ELEMENTS  OF  FEUDALISM         2 13 

belonging  to  it  no  public  judge,  nor  any  one  with  power  of  hear- 
ing cases  or  exacting  fines,  or  raising  sureties,  or  obtaining 
lodging  or  entertainment,  or  making  requisitions  of  any  kind, 
should  enter. 

Moreover,  the  aforesaid  bishop,  Hubert,  has  presented  the 
original  charters  of  former  kings,  together  with  the  confirma- 
tions of  them,  to  be  read  by  us,  and  declares  the  same  favors  to 
be  preserved  to  the  present  day;  but  desiring  the  confirmation 
of  our  clemency,  he  prays  that  our  authority  may  confirm  this 
grant  anew  to  the  monastery. 

Wherefore,  having  inspected  the  said  charters  of  former  kings, 
we  command  that  neither  you,  nor  your  subordinates,  nor  your 
successors,  nor  any  person  having  judicial  powers,  shall  presume 
to  enter  into  the  villages  which  may  at  the  present  time  be  in 
possession  of  that  monastery,  or  which  hereafter  may  have  been 
bestowed  by  God-fearing  men  [or  may  be  about  to  be  so  be- 
stowed].1 Let  no  public  officer  enter  for  the  hearing  of  cases, 
The  immunity  or  f°r  exacting  fines,  or  procuring  sureties,  or 
confirmed  obtaining  lodging  or  entertainment,   or  making 

any  requisitions;  but  in  full  immunity,  even  as  the  favor  of  former 
kings  has  been  continued  down  to  the  present  day,  so  in  the 
future  also  shall  it,  through  our  authority,  remain  undiminished. 
And  if  in  times  past,  through  any  negligence  of  abbots,  or  luke- 
warmness  of  rulers,  or  the  presumption  of  public  officers,  any- 
thing has  been  changed  or  taken  away,  removed  or  withdrawn, 
from  these  immunities,  let  it,  by  our  authority  and  favor,  be 
restored.  And,  further,  let  neither  you  nor  your  subordinates 
presume  to  infringe  upon  or  violate  what  we  have  granted. 

But  if  there  be  any  one,  dominus,2  comes  [count],  domesticus? 
vicarius,4  or  one  vested  with  any  judicial  power  whatsoever,  by 

1  There  is  some  doubt  at  this  point  as  to  the  correct  translation.  That 
given  seems  best  warranted.  _ 

2  Dominus  was  a  common  name  for  a  lord. 

3  A  member  of  the  king's  official  household. 

4  A  subordinate  officer  under  the  count  [see  p.  176,  note  3]. 


214  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

the  indulgence  of  the  good  or  by  the  favor  of  pious  Christians  or 
kings,  who  shall  have  presumed  to  infringe  upon  or  violate  these 
Penalties  for  immunities,  let  him  be  punished  with  a  fine  of  six 
its  violation  hundred  solidi,1  two  parts  to  go  to  the  library  of 
this  monastery,  and  the  third  part  to  be  paid  into  our  treasury, 
so  that  impious  men  may  not  rejoice  in  violating  that  which 
our  ancestors,  or  good  Christians,  may  have  conceded  or  granted. 
And  whatever  our  treasury  may  have  had  a  right  to  expect  from 
this  source  shall  go  to  the  profit  of  the  men  of  this  church  of 
St.  Marcellus  the  martyr,  to  the  better  establishment  of  our 
kingdom  and  the  good  of  those  who  shall  succeed  us. 

And  that  this  decree  may  firmly  endure  we  have  ordered  it  to 
be  confirmed  with  our  own  hand  under  our  seal. 


/ 


35.    The  Granting  of  Fiefs 


The  most  obvious  feature  of  feudalism  was  a  peculiar  divided  tenure 
of  land  under  which  the  title  was  vested  in  one  person  and  the  use  in 
another.  The  territorial  unit  was  the  fief,  which  in  extent  might  be 
but  a  few  acres,  a  whole  county,  or  even  a  vast  region  like  Normandy 
or  Burgundy.  Fiefs  were  granted  to  vassals  by  contracts  which  bound 
both  grantor  and  grantee  to  certain  specific  obligations.  The  two 
extracts  below  are  examples  of  the  records  of  such  feudal  grants, 
bearing  the  dates  1167  and  1200  respectively.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  fiefs  need  not  necessarily  be  land.  Offices,  pay- 
ments of  money,  rights  to  collect  tolls,  and  many  other  valuable  things 
might  be  given  by  one  man  to  another  as  fiefs  in  just  the  same  way 
that  land  was  given.  Du  Cange,  in  his  Glossarium  Mediae  et  Infimce 
Latinitatis,  mentions  eighty-eight  different  kinds  of  fiefs,  and  it  has 
been  said  that  this  does  not  represent  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  total 
number.  Nevertheless,  the  typical  fief  consisted  of  land.  The  term 
might  therefore  be  defined  in  general  as  the  land  for  which  the  vassal, 
or  hereditary  possessor,  rendered  to  the  lord,  or  hereditary  proprietor, 
services  of  a  special  character  which  were  considered  honorable,  such 
as  military  aid  and  attendance  at  courts. 

i  See  p.  61,  note  2. 


THE   GRANTING  OF   FIEFS  215 

Sources — (a)  Nicolas  Brussel,  Nouvel  Examen  de  V  Usage  general  des  Fiefs  en 
France  pendant  le  XI,  le  XII,  le  XIII,  et  le  XIVe Siecle  ["New 
Examination  of  the  Customs  of  Fiefs  in  the  11th,  the  12th,  the 
13th,  and  the  14th  Century"],  Paris,  1727,  Vol.  I.,  p.  3,  note. 
Translated  by  Edward  P.  Cheyney  in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations 
and  Reprints,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  3,  pp.  15-16. 

(b)  Maximilien  Quantin,  Recueil  de  Pieces  du  XIIIe  Siecle  ["Col- 
lection of  Documents  of  the  Thirteenth  Century"],  Auxerre, 
1873,  No.  2,  pp.  1-2.    Translated  by  Cheyney,  ibid. 

(a) 
In  the  name  of  the  Holy  and  Undivided  Trinity,  Amen.  I, 
Louis,1  by  the  grace  of  God  king  of  the  French,  make  known  to 
all  present  as  well  as  to  come,  that  at  Mante  in  our  presence, 
Count  Henry  of  Champagne 2  conceded  the  fief  of  Savigny  to 
The  count  of      Bartholomew,  bishop  of  Beauvais,3  and  his  suc- 

Champagne  cessors.  And  for  that  fief  the  said  bishop  has 
grants  a  fief  to 

the  bishop  of      made  promise  and  engagement  for  one  knight 
eauvais  ancj  jus^ce  ancj  service  to  Count  Henry;4  and 

he  also  agreed  that  the  bishops  who  shall  come  after  him  will 
do  likewise.  In  order  that  this  may  be  understood  and  known 
to  posterity  we  have  caused  the  present  charter  to  be  attested 
by  our  seal.  Done  at  Mante,  in  the  year  of  the  Incarnate  Word, 
1167;  present  in  our  palace  those  whose  names  and  seals  are 
appended:  seal  of  Thiebault,  our  steward;  seal  of  Guy,  the 
butler;  seal  of  Matthew,  the  chamberlain;  seal  of  Ralph,  the 
constable.     Given  by  the  hand  of  Hugh,  the  chancellor. 

(b) 
I,  Thiebault,  count  palatine  of  Troyes,5  make  known  to  those 
present  and  to  come  that  I  have  given  in  fee  6  to  Jocelyn  d'Avalon 

i  Louis  VII.,  king  of  France,  1137-1180. 

2  The  county  of  Champagne  lay  to  the  east  of  Paris.  It  was  established 
by  Charlemagne  and,  while  at  first  insignificant,  grew  until  by  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  it  was  one  of  the  most  important  in  France. 

3  Beauvais  was  about  sixty  miles  northwest  of  Paris. 

4  That  is,  the  bishop  of  Beauvais  was  bound  to  furnish  his  lord,  the 
count  of  Champagne,  the  service  of  one  knight  for  his  army,  besides  ordi- 
nary feudal  obligations. 

5  The  county  of  Troyes  centered  about  the  city  of  that  name  on  the 
upper  Seine.    It  was  eventually  absorbed  by  Champagne. 

6  As  a  fief. 


216  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

and  his  heirs  the  manor  which  is  called  Gillencourt,1  which  is  of 
the  castellanerie  2  of  La  Ferte-sur-Aube;  and  whatever  the  same 
Jocelyn  shall  be  able  to  acquire  in  the  same  manor  I  have  granted 
to  him  and  his  heirs  in  enlargement  of  that  fief.  I  have  granted, 
moreover,  to  him  that  in  no  free  manor  of  mine  will  I  retain  men 
who  are  of  this  gift.3  The  same  Jocelyn,  moreover,  on  account 
of  this  has  become  my  liege  man,  saving,  however,  his  allegiance 
A  grant  bv  *°  ^erad  d'Arcy,  and  to  the  lord  duke  of  Bur- 

Count  Thie-        gundy,  and  to  Peter,  count  of  Auxerre.4     Done 
at  Chouaude,  by  my  own  witness,  in  the  year  of 
the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord  1200,  in  the  month   of    January. 
Given  by  the  hand  of  Walter,  my  chancellor. 

36.   The  Ceremonies  of  Homage  and  Fealty 

The  personal  relation  between  lord  and  vassal  was  established  by 
the  double  ceremony  of  homage  and  fealty.  Homage  was  the  act  by 
which  the  vassal  made  himself  the  man  {homo)  of  the  lord,  while  fealty 
was  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  obligations  which  must  ordinarily  be 
assumed  by  such  a  man.  The  two  were  really  distinct,  though  because 
they  almost  invariably  went  together  they  finally  became  confounded  in 
the  popular  mind.  The  details  of  the  ceremonies  varied  much  in  differ- 
ent times  and  places,  but,  in  general,  when  homage  was  to  be  performed, 
the  prospective  vassal   presented  himself   before  his  future  seigneur 

1  A  manor,  in  the  general  sense,  was  a  feudal  estate. 

2  A  castellanerie  was  a  feudal  holding  centering  about  a  castle. 

3  That  is,  Count  Thiebault  promises  Joeelyn  not  to  deprive  him  of  the 
services  of  men  who  rightfully  belong  on  the  manor  which  is  being  granted. 

4  Here  is  an  illustration  of  the  complexity  of  the  feudal  system.  Count 
Thiebault  is  Jocelyn's  fourth  lord,  and  loyalty  and  service  are  owed  to  all 
of  the  four  at  the  same  time.  Accordingly,  Thiebault  must  be  content  with 
only  such  allegiance  of  his  new  vassal  as  will  not  involve  a  breach  of  the 
contracts  which  Jocelyn  has  already  entered  into  with  his  other  lords. 
For  example,  Thiebault  could  not  expect  Jocelyn  to  aid  him  in  war  against 
the  duke  of  Burgundy,  for  Jocelyn  is  pledged  to  fidelity  to  that  duke.  In 
general,  when  a  man  had  only  one  lord  he  owed  him  full  and  unconditional 
allegiance  (liege  homage),  but  when  he  became  vassal  to  other  lords  he  could 
promise  them  allegiance  only  bo  far  as  would  not  conflict  with  contracts 
already  entered  into.  It  was  by  no  means  unusual  for  a  man  to  have 
several  lords,  and  it  often  happened  that  A  was  B's  vassal  for  a  certain 
piece  of  land  while  at  the  same  time  B  was  A's  vassal  for  another  piece. 
Not  infrequently  the  king  himself  was  thus  a  vassal  of  one  or  more  of  his 
own  \i 


THE   CEREMONIES   OF  HOMAGE  AND  FEALTY  217 

bareheaded  and  without  arms;  knelt,  placed  his  hands  in  those  of  the 
seigneur,  and  declared  himself  his  man ;  then  he  was  kissed  by  the  seign- 
eur and  lifted  to  his  feet.  In  the  act  of  fealty,  the  vassal  placed  his  hand 
upon  sacred  relics,  or  upon  the  Bible,  and  swore  eternal  faithfulness  to 
his  seigneur.  The  so-called  "  act  of  investiture  "  generally  followed,  the 
seigneur  handing  over  to  the  vassal  a  bit  of  turf,  a  stick,  or  some  other 
object  symbolizing  the  transfer  of  the  usufruct  of  the  property  in  ques- 
tion. The  whole  process  was  merely  a  mode  of  establishing  a  binding 
contract  between  the  two  parties.  Below  we  have:  (a)  a  mediaeval 
definition  of  homage,  taken  from  the  customary  law  of  Normandy; 
(6)  an  explanation  of  fealty,  given  in  an  old  English  law-book;  (c)  a 
French  chronicler's  account  of  the  rendering  of  homage  and  fealty  to 
the  count  of  Flanders  in  the  year  1127;  and  (d)  a  set  of  laws  governing 
homage  and  fealty,  written  down  in  a  compilation  of  the  ordinances 
of  Saint  Louis  (king  of  France,  1226-1270),  but  doubtless  showing  sub 
stantially  the  practice  in  France  for  a  long  time  before  King  Louis's  day 

Sources — (a)  L'Ancienne   Coutume  de  Normandie  ["The    Old    Custom  oi 
Normandy"],  Chap.  29. 

(b)  Sir  Thomas  Lyttleton,  Treatise  of  Tenures  in  French  and 
English  (London,  1841),  Bk.  II.,  Chap.  2,  p.  123. 

(c)  Galbert  de  Bruges,  De  Multro,  Traditione,  et  Occisione  gloriosi 
Karoli  comitis  Flandriarum  ["Concerning  the  Murder,  Be- 
trayal, and  Death  of  the  glorious  Charles,  Count  of  Flanders"]. 
Text  in  Henri  Pirenne,  Histoire  du  Meurtre  de  Charles  le  Bon, 
comte  de  Flandre,  par  Galbert  de  Bruges  (Paris,  1891).  Trans- 
lated by  Edward  P.  Cheyney  in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and 
Reprints,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  3,  p.  18. 

(d)  Les  fitablissements  de  Saint  Louis  ["The  Ordinances  of  St. 
Louis  "] ,  Bk.  II. ,  Chap.  19.  Text  in  Paul  Viollet's  edition  (Paris, 
1881), Vol.  II.,  pp.  395-398 

(a) 
Homage  is  a  pledge  to  keep  faith  in  respect  to  matters  that  are 
right   and  necessary,   and   to  give  counsel   and   aid.     He  who 
A  Norman  would  do  homage  ought  to  place  his  hands  be- 

definition  tween  those  of  the  man  who  is  to  be  his  lord,  and 

speak  these  words:  "  I  become  your  man,  to  keep 
faith  with  you  against  all  others,  saving  my  allegiance  to  the 
duke  of  Normandy." 


218  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

(b) 

And  when  a  free  tenant  shall  swear  fealty  to  his  lord,  let  him 
place  his  right  hand  on  the  book  x  and  speak  thus:  "Hear  thou 
this,  my  lord,  that  I  will  be  faithful  and  loyal  to  you  and  will 
keep  my  pledges  to  you  for  the  lands  which  I  claim  to  hold  of 
The  oath  you,  and  that  I  will  loyally  perform  for  you  the 

of  fealty  services  specified,  so  help  me  God  and  the  saints." 

Then  he  shall  kiss  the  book;  but  he  shall  not  kneel  when  he 
swears  fealty,  nor  take  so  humble  a  posture  as  is  required  in 
homage. 

(c) 

Through  the  whole  remaining  part  of  the  day  those  who  had 
been  previously  enfeoffed  by  the  most  pious  count  Charles,  did 
homage  to  the  count,2  taking  up  now  again  their  fiefs  and  offices 
and  whatever  they  had  before  rightfully  and  legitimately  ob- 
tained. On  Thursday,  the  seventh  of  April,  homages  were  again 
made  to  the  count,  being  completed  in  the  following  order  of 
faith  and  security: 

First  they  did  their  homage  thus.  The  count  asked  if  he  was 
willing  to  become  completely  his  man,  and  the  other  replied, 
The  rendering  "^  am  willing";  and  with  clasped  hands,  sur- 

of  homage  and  rounded  by  the  hands  of  the  count,  they  were 

fealty  to  the  J  , 

count  of  Flan-  bound  together  by  a  kiss.    Secondly,  he  who  had 

done  homage  gave  his  fealty  to  the  representative 

of  the  count  in  these  words,  "I  promise  on  my  faith  that  I  will 

in  future  be  faithful  to  Count  William,  and  will  observe  my 

homage  to  him  completely,  against  all  persons,  in  good  faith  and 

without  deceit."     Thirdly,  he  took  his  oath  to  this  upon  the 

relics  of  the  saints.    Afterwards,  with  a  little  rod  which  the  count 

held  in  his  hand,  he  gave  investitures  to  all  who  by  this  agree- 

1  The  Bible.     Sometimes  only  the  Gospels  were  used. 

2  Charles,  count  of  Flanders,  had  just  died  and  had  been  succeeded  by  his 
son  William.  All  persons  who  had  received  fiefs  from  the  deceased  count 
were  now  brought  together  to  renew  their  homage  and  fealty  to  the  new 
count. 


THE   CEREMONIES   OF  HOMAGE   AND   FEALTY  219 

ment  had  given  their  security  and  homage  and  accompanying 
oath. 

(d) 

If  any  one  would  hold  from  a  lord  in  fee,  he  ought  to  seek  his 
lord  within  forty  days.  And  if  he  does  not  do  it  within  forty  days, 
the  lord  may  and  ought  to  seize  his  fief  for  default  of  homage, 
and  the  things  which  are  found  there  he  should  seize  without 
compensation;  and  yet  the  vassal  should  be  obliged  to  pay  to 
his  lord  the  redemption.1  When  any  one  wishes  to  enter  into 
the  fealty  of  a  lord,  he  ought  to  seek  him,  as  we  have  said  above, 
and  should  speak  as  follows:  "Sir,  I  request  you,  as  my  lord,  to 
An  ordinance  put  me  in  your  fealty  and  in  your  homage  for 
nomageTnd  °n  suc^  an(*  sucn  a  tnm&  situated  in  your  fief,  which 
fealty  I  have  bought."    And  he  ought  to  say  from  what 

man,  and  this  one  ought  to  be  present  and  in  the  fealty  of  the 
lord;  2  and  whether  it  is  by  purchase  or  by  escheat  3  or  by  in- 
heritance he  ought  to  explain;  and  with  his  hands  joined,  to 
speak  as  follows:  "Sir,  I  become  your  man  and  promise  to  you 
fealty  for  the  future  as  my  lord,  towards  all  men  who  may  live 
or  die,  rendering  to  you  such  service  as  the  fief  requires,  making 
to  you  your  relief  as  you  are  the  lord."  And  he  ought  to  say 
whether  for  guardianship,4  or  as  an  escheat,  or  as  an  inheritance, 
or  as  a  purchase. 

The  lord  should  immediately  reply  to  him:  "And  I  receive 
you  and  take  you  as  my  man,  and  give  you  this  kiss  as  a  sign 
of  faith,  saving  my  right  and  that  of  others,"  according  to  the 
usage  of  the  various  districts. 


1  Such  a  case  as  this  would  be  most  apt  to  arise  when  a  lord  died  and  a 
vassal  failed  to  renew  his  homage  to  the  successor;  or  when  a  vassal  died 
and  his  heir  failed  to  do  homage  as  was  required. 

2  This  law  would  apply  also  to  a  case  where  a  man  who  is  already  a  vassal 
of  a  lord  should  acquire  from  another  vassal  of  the  same  lord  some  additional 
land  and  so  become  indebted  to  the  lord  for  a  new  measure  of  fealty. 

3  Reversion  to  the  original  proprietor  because  of  failure  of  heirs. 

4  Such  land  might  be  acquired  for  temporary  use  only  i.  e.,  for  guardian- 
ship, during  the  absence  or  disability  of  its  proprietor. 


220  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

37.  The  Mutual  Obligations  of  Lords  and  Vassals 
The  feudal  relation  was  essentially  one  of  contract  involving  recipro- 
cal relations  between  lord  and  vassal.  In  the  following  letter,  written 
in  the  year  1020  by  Bishop  Fulbert  of  Chartres  1  to  the  duke  of  Aqui- 
taine,  we  find  laid  down  the  general  principles  which  ought  to  govern 
the  discharge  of  these  mutual  obligations.  It  is  affirmed  that  there 
were  six  things  that  no  loyal  vassal  could  do,  and  these  are  enumerated 
and  explained.  Then  comes  the  significant  statement  that  these 
negative  duties  must  be  supplemented  with  positive  acts  for  the  service 
and  support  of  the  lord.  What  some  of  these  acts  were  will  appear  in 
the  extracts  in  §  38.  Bishop  Fulbert  points  out  also  that  the  lord  is 
himself  bound  by  feudal  law  not  to  do  things  detrimental  to  the  safety, 
honor,  or  prosperity  of  his  vassal.  The  letter  is  an  admirable  state- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  the  feudal  system  at  its  best.  Already  by  1020  a 
considerable  body  of  feudal  customs  having  the  force  of  law  had  come 
into  existence  and  it  appears  that  Fulbert  had  made  these  customs  the 
subject  of  some  special  study  before  answering  the  questions  addressed 
to  him  by  Duke  William. 


Source — Text  in  Martin  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la 
France  ["  Collection  of  the  Historians  of  Gaul  and  of  France  "J, 
Vol.  X.,  p.  463. 

To  William,  most  illustrious  duke  of  the  Aquitanians,  Bishop 
Fulbert,  the  favor  of  his  prayers: 

Requested  to  write  something  regarding  the  character  of 
fealty,  I  have  set  down  briefly  for  you,  on  the  authority  of  the 
books,  the  following  things.  He  who  takes  the  oath  of  fealty  to 
What  the  vas-  *^s  l°rd  ought  always  to  keep  in  mind  these  six 
sal  owes  the  things:  what  is  harmless,  safe,  honorable,  useful, 
easy,  and  practicable.2  Harmless,  which  means 
that  he  ought  not  to  injure  his  lord  in  his  body;  safe,  that  he 
should  not  injure  him  by  betraying  his  confidence  or  the  de- 
fenses upon  which  he  depends  for  security;  honorable,  that  he 

1  Chartres  was  somewhat  less  than  twenty  miles  southwest  of  Paris. 

2  The  terms  used  in  the  original  are  incolume,  tutum,  honestum,  utile,  facile, 
et  possibile. 


THE   MORE   IMPORTANT  RIGHTS   OF   THE   LORD  221 

should  not  injure  him  in  his  justice,  or  in  other  matters  that  re- 
late to  his  honor;  useful,  that  he  should  not  injure  him  in  his 
property;  easy,  that  he  should  not  make  difficult  that  which  his 
lord  can  do  easily;  and  practicable,  that  he  should  not  make 
impossible  for  the  lord  that  which  is  possible. 

However,  while  it  is  proper  that  the  faithful  vassal  avoid  these 
injuries,  it  is  not  for  doing  this  alone  that  he  deserves  his  hold- 
ing: for  it  is  not  enough  to  refrain  from  wrongdoing,  unless  that 
which  is  good  is  done  also.  It  remains,  therefore,  that  in  the 
same  six  things  referred  to  above  he  should  faithfully  advise  and 
aid  his  lord,  if  he  wishes  to  be  regarded  as  worthy  of  his  benefice 
and  to  be  safe  concerning  the  fealty  which  he  has  sworn. 

The  lord  also  ought  to  act  toward  his  faithful  vassal  in  the 
same  manner  in  all  these  things.  And  if  he  fails  to  do  this,  he 
The  oblie-a-  w^  ^e  rightfully  regarded  as  guilty  of  bad  faith, 
tions  of  the  just  as  the  former,  if  he  should  be  found  shirk- 
ing, or  willing  to  shirk,  his  obligations  would  be 
perfidious  and  perjured.1 

I  should  have  written  to  you  at  greater  length  had  I  not  been 
busy  with  many  other  matters,  including  the  rebuilding  of  our 
city  and  church,  which  were  recently  completely  destroyed  by 
a  terrible  fire.  Though  for  a  time  we  could  not  think  of  any- 
thing but  this  disaster,  yet  now,  by  the  hope  of  God's  comfort, 
and  of  yours  also,  we  breathe  more  freely  again. 

38.    Some  of  the  More  Important  Rights  of  the  Lord 

The  obligations  of  vassals  to  lords  outlined  in  the  preceding  selection 
were  mainly  of  a  moral  character — such  as  naturally  grew  out  of  the 
general  idea  of  loyalty  and  fidelity  to  a  benefactor.     They  were  largely 

1  In  the  English  customary  law  of  the  twelfth  century  we  read  that,  "it 
is  allowable  to  any  one,  without  punishment,  to  support  his  lord  if  any  one 
assails  him,  and  to  obey  him  in  all  legitimate  ways,  except  in  theft,  murder, 
and  in  all  such  things  as  are  not  conceded  to  any  one  to  do  and  are  reckoned 
infamous  by  the  laws;"  also  that,  "the  lord  ought  to  do  likewise  equally 
with  counsel  and  aid,  and  he  may  come  to  his  man's  assistance  in  his  vicissi- 
tudes in  all  ways." — Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes,  Vol.  I.,  p.  590. 


222  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

negative  and  were  rather  vague  and  indefinite.  So  far  as  they  went, 
they  were  binding  upon  lords  and  vassals  alike.  There  were,  however, 
several  very  definite  and  practical  rights  which  the  lords  possessed  with 
respect  to  the  property  and  persons  of  their  dependents.  Some  of  these 
were  of  a  financial  character,  some  were  judicial,  and  others  were 
military.  Five  of  the  most  important  are  illustrated  by  the  passages 
given  below. 

(a)  Aids 

Under  the  feudal  system  the  idea  prevailed  that  the  vassal's  purse 
as  well  as  his  body  was  to  be  at  the  lord's  service.  Originally  the 
right  to  draw  upon  his  vassals  for  money  was  exercised  by  the  lord 
whenever  he  desired,  but  by  custom  this  ill-defined  power  gradually 
became  limited  to  three  sorts  of  occasions  when  the  need  of  money 
was  likely  to  be  especially  urgent,  i.  e.,  when  the  eldest  son  was  knighted, 
when  the  eldest  daughter  was  married,  and  when  the  lord  was  to  be 
ransomed  from  captivity.  In  the  era  of  the  crusades,  the  starting  of 
the  lord  on  an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land  was  generally  regarded  as 
another  emergency  in  which  an  aid  might  rightfully  be  demanded. 
The  following  extract  from  the  old  customary  law  of  Normandy  repre- 
sents the  practice  in  nearly  all  feudal  Europe. 

Source — L'Ancienne  Coutume  de  Normandie,  Chap.  35. 

In  Normandy  there  are  three  chief  aids.  The  first  is  to  help 
make  the  lord's  eldest  son  a  knight;  the  second  is  to  marry  his 
eldest  daughter;  the  third  is  to  ransom  the  body  of  the  lord 
from  prison  when  he  shall  be  taken  captive  during  a  war  for  the 
The  three  duke.1     By  this  it  appears  that  the  aide  de  cheva- 

aids  lerie  [knighthood-aid]  is  due  when  the  eldest  son 

of  the  lord  is  made  a  knight.  The  eldest  son  is  he  who  has  the 
dignity  of  primogeniture.2     The  aide  de  mariage  [marriage-aid]  is 

1  The  duke  of  Normandy.  Outside  of  Normandy,  of  course,  other  feudal 
princes  would  be  substituted. 

2  It  was  the  feudal  system  that  first  gave  the  eldest  son  in  France  a  real 
superiority  over  his  brothers.  This  may  l>e  seen  most  clearly  in  the  change 
wrought  by  feudalism  whereby  the  old  Frankish  custom  of  allowing  all  the 
sons  to  inherit  their  father's  property  equally  was  replaced  by  the  mediaeval 
rule  of  primogeniture  (established  by  the  eleventh  century)  under  which  the 
younger  sons  were  entirely,  or  almost  entirely,  excluded  from  the  inheritance. 


THE   MORE   IMPORTANT  RIGHTS   OF  THE   LORD  223 

due  when  the  eldest  daughter  is  married.  The  aide  de  ranfon 
[ransom-aid]  is  due  when  it  is  necessary  to  deliver  the  lord  from 
the  prisons  of  the  enemies  of  the  duke.  These  aids  are  paid  in 
some  fiefs  at  the  rate  of  half  a  relief,  and  in  some  at  the  rate  of 
a  third.1 

(fe)  Military  Service 

From  whatever  point  of  view  feudalism  is  regarded — whether  as  a 
system  of  land  tenure,  as  a  form  of  social  organization,  or  as  a  type  of 
government — the  military  element  in  it  appears  everywhere  important. 
The  feudal  period  was  the  greatest  era  of  war  the  civilized  world  has 
ever  known.  Few  people  between  the  tenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
except  in  the  peasant  classes,  were  able  to  live  out  their  lives  entirely 
in  peace.  Of  greatest  value  to  kings  and  feudal  magnates,  greater  even 
than  money  itself,  was  a  goodly  following  of  soldiers;  hence  the  almost 
universal  requirement  of  military  service  by  lords  from  their  vassals. 
Fiefs  were  not  infrequently  granted  out  for  no  other  purpose  than  to 
get  the  military  service  which  their  holders  would  owe.  The  amount 
of  such  service  varied  greatly  in  different  times  and  places,  but  the 
following  arrangement  represents  the  most  common  practice. 

Source — Les  llltablissements  de  Saint  Louis,  Bk.  I.,  Chap.  65.    Text  in  Paul 
Viollet's  edition  (Paris,  1881),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  95-96. 

The  baron  and  the  vassals  of  the  king  ought  to  appear  in  his 
army  when  they  shall  be  summoned,  and  ought  to  serve  at  their 
own  expense  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  with  whatever  num- 
ber of  knights  they  owe.2  And  he  possesses  the  right  to  exact 
The  conditions   ^rom  them  these  services  when  he  wishes  and 

of  military  ser-  when  he  has  need  of  them.  If,  however,  the  king 
vie  6 

shall  wish  to  keep  them  more  than  forty  days  and 

forty  nights  at  their  own  expense,  they  need  not  remain  unless 

1  Relief  is  the  term  used  to  designate  the  payment  made  to  the  lord  by 
the  son  of  the  deceased  vassal  before  taking  up  the  inheritance  [see  p.  225]. 
The  "custom"  says  that  sometimes  the  amount  paid  as  an  aid  to  the  lord 
was  equal  to  half  that  paid  as  relief  and  sometimes  it  was  only  a  third. 

2  The  number  of  men  brought  by  a  vassal  to  the  royal  army  depended 
on  the  value  of  his  fief  and  the  character  of  his  feudal  contract.  Greater 
vassals  often  appeared  with  hundreds  of  followers. 


224  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

they  desire.1  But  if  he  shall  wish  to  retain  them  at  his  cost  for 
the  defense  of  the  kingdom,  they  ought  lawfully  to  remain. 
But  if  he  shall  propose  to  lead  them  outside  of  the  kingdom, 
they  need  not  go  unless  they  are  willing,  for  they  have  already 
served  their  forty  days  and  forty  nights. 

(c)  Wardship  and  Marriage 

Very  important  among  the  special  prerogatives  of  the  feudal  lord 
was  his  right  to  manage,  and  enjoy  the  profits  of,  fiefs  inherited  by 
minors.  When  a  vassal  died,  leaving  an  heir  who  was  under  age,  the 
lord  was  charged  with  the  care  of  the  fief  until  the  heir  reached  his  or 
her  majority.  On  becoming  of  age,  a  young  man  was  expected  to  take 
control  of  his  fief  at  once.  But  a  young  woman  remained  under  ward- 
ship until  her  marriage,  though  if  she  married  under  age  she  could  get 
possession  of  her  fief  immediately,  just  as  she  would  had  she  waited 
until  older.  The  control  of  the  marriage  of  heiresses  was  largely  in  the 
hands  of  their  lords,  for  obviously  it  was  to  the  lord's  interest  that  no 
enemy  of  his,  nor  any  shiftless  person,  should  become  the  husband  of 
his  ward.  The  lord  could  compel  a  female  ward  to  marry  and  could 
oblige  her  to  accept  as  a  husband  one  of  the  candidates  whom  he  offered 
her;  but  it  was  usually  possible  for  the  woman  to  purchase  exemption 
from  this  phase  of  his  jurisdiction.  After  the  thirteenth  century  the 
right  of  wardship  gradually  declined  in  France,  though  it  long  con- 
tinued in  England.  The  following  extract  from  the  customs  of  Nor- 
mandy sets  forth  the  typical  feudal  law  on  the  subject. 

Source — L'Ancienne  Coutume  de  Normandie,  Chap.  33. 

Heirs  should  be  placed  in  guardianship  until  they  reach  the 
age  of  twenty  years;  and  those  who  hold  them  as  wards  should 

1  This  provision  rendered  the  ordinary  feudal  army  much  more  inefficient 
than  an  army  made  up  of  paid  soldiers.  Under  ordinary  circumstances, 
when  their  forty  days  of  service  had  expired,  the  feudal  troops  were  free  to 
go  home,  even  though  their  doing  so  might  force  the  king  to  abandon  a 
siege  or  give  up  a  costly  campaign  only  partially  completed.  By  the  thir- 
teenth century  it  had  become  customary  for  the  king  to  accept  extra  money 
payments  instead  of  military  service  from  his  vassals.  With  the  revenues 
thus  obtained,  soldiers  could  be  hired  who  made  war  their  profession  and 
who  were  willing  to  serve  indefinitely. 


THE  MORE   IMPORTANT  RIGHTS   OF  THE   LORD  225 

give  over  to  them  all  the  fiefs  which  came  under  their  control 
by  reason  of  wardship,  provided  they  have  not  lost  anything  by 
judicial  process.  .  .  .  When  the  heirs  pass  out  of  the  con- 
dition of  wardship,  their  lords  shall  not  impose  upon  them  any 
reliefs  for  their  fiefs,  for  the  profits  of  wardship  shall  be  reckoned 
in  place  of  the  relief. 

When  a  female  ward  reaches  the  proper  age  to  marry,  she 
should  be  married  by  the  advice  and  consent  of  her  lord,  and  by 

„, .  _     the    advice    and    consent    of   her   relatives   and 

The  marriage 

of  a  female  friends,  according  as  the  nobility  of  her  an- 
'ward 

cestry  and  the  value  of  her  fief  may  require;  and 

upon  her  marriage  the  fief  which  has  been  held  in  guardianship 
should  be  given  over  to  her.  A  woman  cannot  be  freed  from 
wardship  except  by  marriage;  and  let  it  not  be  said  that  she  is 
of  age  until  she  is  twenty  years  old.  But  if  she  be  married  at 
the  age  at  which  it  is  allowable  for  a  woman  to  marry,  the  fact  of 
her  marriage  makes  her  of  age  and  delivers  her  fief  from  wardship. 
The  fiefs  of  those  who  are  under  wardship  should  be  cared 
for  attentively  by  their  lords,  who  are  entitled  to  receive  the 
The  lord's  ob-  produce  and  profits.1  And  in  this  connection  let 
tor  fo^fief  of*  **  ^e  known  that  the  lord  ought  to  preserve  in 
his  ward  their  former  condition  the  buildings,  the  manor- 

houses,  the  forests  and  meadows,  the  gardens,  the  ponds,  the 
mills,  the  fisheries,  and  the  other  things  of  which  he  has  the  profits. 
And  he  should  not  sell,  destroy,  or  remove  the  woods,  the  houses, 
or  the  trees. 

(d)   Reliefs 

A  relief  was  a  payment  made  to  the  lord  by  an  heir  before  entering 
upon,  possession  of  his  fief.  The  history  of  reliefs  goes  back  to  the  time 
when  benefices  were  not  hereditary  and  when,  if  a  son  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  usufruct  of  a  piece  of  property,  it  was  regarded  as  an  un- 

1  Every  fief-holder  was  supposed  to  render  some  measure  of  military 
service.  As  neither  a  minor  nor  a  woman  could  do  this  personally,  it  was 
natural  that  the  lord  should  make  up  for  the  deficiency  by  appropriating 
the  produce  of  the  estate  during  the  period  of  wardship. 

Med.  Hist.— 15 


226  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

usual  thing — a  special  favor  on  the  part  of  the  owner  to  be  paid  for  by 
the  new  tenant.  Later,  when  fiefs  had  become  almost  everywhere 
hereditary,  the  custom  of  requiring  reliefs  still  survived.  The  amount 
was  at  first  arbitrary,  being  arranged  by  individual  bargains;  but  in 
every  community,  especially  in  France,  the  tendency  was  toward  a  fixed 
custom  regarding  it.  Below  are  given  some  brief  extracts  from  English 
Treasury  records  which  show  how  men  in  England  between  the  years 
1140  and  1230  paid  the  king  for  the  privilege  of  retaining  the  fiefs  held 
by  their  fathers. 

Source — Thomas  Madox,  i/ istory  and   Antiquities  of  the  Exchequer  of  the 
Kings  of  England  (London,  1769),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  312-322  passim. 

Walter  Hait  renders  an  account  of  5  marks  of  silver  for  the 
relief  of  the  land  of  his  father. 

Walter  Brito  renders  an  account  of  £66,  13s.  and  4d.  for  the 
relief  of  his  land. 

Richard  of  Estre  renders  an  account  of  £15  for  the  relief  for 
3  knights'  fees  which  he  holds  from  the  honor  of  Mortain. 

Walter  Fitz  Thomas,  of  Newington,  owes  28s.  4d.  for  having 
a  fourth  part  of  one  knight's  fee  which  had  been  seized  into  the 
hand  of  the  king  for  default  of  relief. 

John  of  Venetia  renders  an  account  of  300  marks  for  the  fine 
of  his  land  and  for  the  relief  of  the  land  which  was  his  father's 
which  he  held  from  the  king  in  capite.1 

John  de  Balliol  ow.es  £150  for  the  relief  of  30  knights'  fees 
which  Hugh  de  Balliol,  his  father,  held  from  the  king  in  capite, 
that  is  100s.  for  each  fee. 

Peter  de  Bruce  renders  an  account  of  £100  for  his  relief  for 
the  barony  which  was  of  Peter  his  father. 

(e)   Forfeiture 

The  lord's  most  effective  means  of  compelling  his  vassals  to  dis- 
charge their  obligations  was  his  right  to  take  back  their  fiefs  for  breach 
of  feudal  contract.     Such  a  breach,  or   felony,  as  it  was  technically 

1  Tenants  in  capite  in  England  were  those  who  held  their  land  by  direct 
royal  grant. 


THE   MORE   IMPORTANT  RIGHTS   OF  THE  LORD  227 

called,  might  consist  in  refusal  to  render  military  service  or  the  required 
aids,  ignoring  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  lord,  levying  war  against 
the  lord,  dishonoring  members  of  the  lord's  family,  or,  as  in  the  case 
below,  refusing  to  obey  the  lord's  summons  to  appear  in  court.  In 
practice  the  lords  generally  found  it  difficult  to  enforce  the  penalty  of 
forfeiture  and  after  the  thirteenth  century  the  tendency  was  to  sub- 
stitute money  fines  for  dispossession,  except  in  the  most  aggravated 
cases.  The  following  is  an  account  of  the  condemnation  of  Arnold 
Atton,  a  nobleman  of  south  France,  by  the  feudal  court  of  Raymond, 
count  of  Toulouse,  in  the  year  1249.  The  penalty  imposed  was  the 
loss  of  the  valuable  chateau  of  Auvillars. 

Source — Teulet,  Layettes  du  Tresor  des  Cartes  ["  Bureau  of  Treasury 
Accounts  "],  No.  3778,  Vol.  III.,  p.  70.  Translated  by  Edward  P. 
Cheyney  in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  IV., 
No.  3.  pp.  33-34. 

Raymond,  by  the  grace  of  God  count  of  Toulouse,  marquis  of 
Provence,  to  the  nobleman  Arnold  Atton,  viscount  of  Lomagne, 
greeting: 

Let  it  be  known  to  your  nobility  by  the  tenor  of  these  presents 
what  has  been  done  in  the  matter  of  the  complaints  which  we 
have  made  about  you  before  the  court  of  Agen;  that  you  have 
not  taken  the  trouble  to  keep  or  fulfill  the  agreements  sworn  by 
you  to  us,  as  is  more  fully  contained  in  the  instrument  drawn  up 
there,  sealed  with  our  seal  by  the  public  notary;  and  that  you 
have  refused  contemptuously  to  appear  before  the  said  court  for 
the  purpose  of  doing  justice,  and  have  otherwise  committed 
multiplied  and  great  delinquencies  against  us.  As  your  faults 
The  court's  have  required,  the  aforesaid  court  of  Agen  has 
sentence  upon  unanimously  and  concordantly  pronounced  sen- 
tence against  you,  and  for  these  matters  have 
condemned  you  to  hand  over  and  restore  to  us  the  chateau  of 
Auvillars  and  all  that  land  which  you  hold  from  us  in  fee,  to  be 
had  and  held  by  us  by  right  of  the  obligation  by  which  you  have 
bound  it  to  us  for  fulfilling  and  keeping  the  said  agreements. 

Likewise  it  has  declared  that  we  are  to  be  put  into  possession 


228  THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM 

of  the  said  land  and  that  it  is  to  be  handed  over  to  us,  on  account 
of  your  contumacy,  because  you  have  not  been  willing  to  appear 
before  the  same  court  on  the  days  which  were  assigned  to  you. 
Moreover,  it  has  declared  that  you  shall  be  held  and  required 
to  restore  the  said  land  in  whatsoever  way  we  wish  to  receive  it, 
with  few  or  many,  in  peace  or  in  anger,  in  our  own  person,  by 
right  of  lordship.  Likewise  it  has  declared  that  you  shall  re- 
store to  us  all  the  expenses  which  we  have  incurred,  or  the  court 
itself  has  incurred,  on  those  days  which  were  assigned  to  you, 
or  because  of  those  days,  and  has  condemned  you  to  repay  these 
to  us.1 

Moreover,  it  has  declared  that  the  nobleman  Gerald  d'Armag- 
nac,  whom  you  hold  captive,  you  shall  liberate,  and  deliver  him 
free  to  us.  We  demand,  moreover,  by  right  of  our  lordship  that 
you  liberate  him. 

We  call,  therefore,  upon  your  discretion  in  this  matter,  strictly 
enjoining  you  and  commanding  that  you  obey  the  aforesaid 
sentences  in  all  things  and  fulfill  them  in  all  respects  and  in  no 
way  delay  the  execution  of  them. 

39.   The  Peace  and  the  Truce  of  God 

War  rather  than  peace  was  the  normal  condition  of  feudal  society. 
Peasants  were  expected  to  settle  their  disputes  in  the  courts  of  law, 
but  lords  and  seigneurs  possessed  a  legal  right  to  make  war  upon  their 
enemies  and  were  usually  not' loath  to  exercise  it.  Private  warfare  was 
indeed  so  common  that  it  all  the  time  threatened  seriously  the  lives  and 
property  of  the  masses  of  the  people  and  added  heavily  to  the  afflic- 
tions which  flood,  drought,  famine,  and  pestilence  brought  repeatedly 
upon  them.  The  first  determined  efforts  to  limit,  if  not  to  abolish, 
the  ravages  of  private  war  were  made  by  the  Church,  partly  because 

1  Apparently  the  king's  court  had  been  assembled  several  times  to  con- 
sider tne  charges  against  Viscount  Atton,  but  had  been  prevented  from 
taking  action  because  of  the  hitter's  failure  to  appear.  At  last  the  court 
decided  that  it  was  useless  to  delay  longer  and  proceeded  to  condemn  the 
guilty  noble  and  send  him  a  statement  of  what  had  been  done.  He  was  not- 
only  to  lose  his  chateau  of  Auvillars  but  also  to  reimburse  the  king  for  the 
expenses  which  the  court  had  incurred  on  his  account. 


THE  PEACE  AND  THE  TRUCE  OF  GOD         229 

the  Church  itself  often  suffered  by  reason  of  them,  partly  because  its 
ideal  was  that  of  peace  and  security,  and  partly  because  it  recognized 
its  duty  as  the  protector  of  the  poor  and  oppressed.  Late  in  the  tenth 
century,  under  the  influence  of  the  Cluniacs  [see  p.  245],  the  clergy  of 
France,  both  secular  and  regular,  began  in  their  councils  to  promulgate 
decrees  which  were  intended  to  establish  what  was  known  as  the  Peace 
of  God.  These  decrees,  which  were  enacted  by  so  many  councils  between 
989  and  1050  that  they  came  to  cover  pretty,  nearly  all  France,  proclaimed 
generally  that  any  one  who  should  use  violence  toward  women,  peasants, 
merchants,  or  members  of  the  clergy  should  be  excommunicated.  The 
principle  was  to  exempt  certain  classes  of  people  from  the  operations 
of  war  and  violence,  even  though  the  rest  of  the  population  should 
continue  to  fight  among  themselves.  It  must  be  said  that  these  de- 
crees, though  enacted  again  and  again,  had  often  little  apparent  effect. 

Effort  was  then  made  in  another  direction.  From  about  1027  the 
councils  began  to  proclaim  what  was  known  as  the  Truce  of  God, 
sometimes  alone  and  sometimes  in  connection  with  the  Peace.  The 
purport  of  the  Truce  of  God  was  that  all  men  should  abstain  from  war- 
fare and  violence  during  a  certain  portion  of  each  week,  and  during 
specified  church  festivals  and  holy  seasons.  At  first  only  Sunday  was 
thus  designated ;  then  other  days,  until  the  time  from  Wednesday  night 
to  Monday  morning  was  all  included;  then  extended  periods,  as  Lent, 
were  added,  until  finally  not  more  than  eighty  days  remained  of  the 
entire  year  on  which  private  warfare  was  allowable.  As  one  writer  has 
stated  it,  "the  Peace  of  God  was  intended  to  protect  certain  classes 
at  all  times  and  the  Truce  to  protect  all  classes  at  certain  times."  It 
was  equally  difficult  to  secure  the  acquiescence  of  the  lawless  nobles 
in  both,  and  though  the  efforts  of  the  Church  were  by  no  means  without 
result,  we  are  to  think  of  private  warfare  as  continuing  quite  common 
until  brought  gradually  to  an  end  by  the  rise  of  strong  monarchies, 
by  the  turning  of  men  to  commerce  and  trade,  and  by  the  drawing  off 
of  military  energies  into  foreign  and  international  wars. 

The  decree  given  below,  which  combines  features  of  both  the  Peace 
and  the  Truce,  was  issued  by  the  Council  of  Toulouges  (near  Perpignan) 
in  1041,  or,  as  some  scholars  think,  in  1065.  Its  substance  was  many 
times  reenacted,  notably  by  the  Council  of  Clermont,  in  1095,  upon  the 
occasion  of  the  proclamation  of  the  first  Crusade.     It  should  have  pro- 


230  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

cured  about  240  days  of  peace  in  every  year  and  reduced  war  to  about 
120  days,  but,  like  the  others,  it  was  only  indifferently  observed. 

Source — Text  in  Martin  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la 
France  ["  Collection  of  the  Historians  of  Gaul  and  of  France  "1 
Paris,  1876,  Vol.  XI.,  pp.  510-511. 

1.  This  Peace  has  been  confirmed  by  the  bishops,  by  the 
abbots,  by  the  counts  and  viscounts  and  the  other  God-fearing 
nobles  in  this  bishopric,  to  the  effect  that  in  the  future,  beginning 
with  this  day,  no  man  may  commit  an  act  of  violence  in  a  church, 
Acts  of  vio-  or  in  the  space  which  surrounds  it  and  which 
den^o^near  is  covered  by  its  privileges,  or  in  the  burying- 
churches  ground,  or  in  the  dwelling-houses  which  are,  or 
may  be,  within  thirty  paces  of  it. 

2.  We  do  not  include  in  this  measure  the  churches  which  have 
been,  or  which  shall  be,  fortified  as  chateaux,  or  those  in  which 
plunderers  and  thieves  are  accustomed  to  store  their  ill-gotten 
booty,  or  which  give  them  a  place  of  refuge.  Nevertheless  wre 
desire  that  such  churches  be  under  this  protection  until  com- 
plaint of  them  shall  be  made  to  the  bishop,  or  to  the  chapter. 
If  the  bishop  or  chapter  1  act  upon  such  information  and  lay  hold 
of  the  malefactors,  and  if  the  latter  refuse  to  give  themselves  up  to 
the  justice  of  the  bishop  or  chapter,  the  malefactors  and  all  their 
possessions  shall  not  be  immune,  even  within  the  church.  A 
man  who  breaks  into  a  church,  or  into  the  space  within  thirty 
paces  around  it,  must  pay  a  fine  for  sacrilege,  and  double  this 
amount  to  the  person  wronged. 

3.  Furthermore,  it  is  forbidden  that  any  one  attack  the  clergy, 

who  do  not  bear  arms,  or  the  monks  and  religious  persons,  or  do 

...    .  them  any  wrong;  likewise  it  is  forbidden  to  despoil 

AttacKs  upon 

the  clergy  or  pillage  the  communities  of  canons,  monks,  and 

religious  persons,  the  ecclesiastical  lands  which 

are  under  the  protection  of  the  Church,  or  the  clergy,  who  do  not 

iThe  chapter  was  the  body  of  clergy  attached  to  a  cathedral  church. 
Its  members  were  known  as  canons. 


THE  PEACE  AND  THE  TRUCE  OF  GOD         231 

bear  arms;  and  if  any  one  shall  do  such  a  thing,  let  him  pay  a 
double  composition.1 

5.  Let  no  one  burn  or  destroy  the  dwellings  of  the  peasants 
and  the  clergy,  the  dove-cotes  and  the  granaries.  Let  no  man 
dare  to  kill,  to  beat,  or  to  wound  a  peasant  or  serf,  or  the  wife  of 
either,  or  to  seize  them  and  carry  them  off,  except  for  misde- 
meanors which  they  may  have  committed ;  but  it  is  not  forbidden 

_  .  to  lay  hold  of  them  in  order  to  bring  them  to 

*  rotocxion  ©x- 

tended  to  the      justice,  and  it  is  allowable  to  do  this  even  before 
peasan   y  ^ey  snan  have  been  summoned  to  appear.     Let 

not  the  raiment  of  the  peasants  be  stolen;  let  not  their  ploughs, 
or  their  hoes,  or  their  olive-fields  be  burned. 

6.  .  .  .  Let  any  one  who  has  broken  the  peace,  and  has 
not  paid  his  fines  within  a  fortnight,  make  amends  to  him  whom 
he  has  injured  by  paying  a  double  amount,  which  shall  go  to  the 
bishop  and  to  the  count  who  shall  have  had  charge  of  the  case. 

7.  The  bishops  of  whom  we  have  spoken  have  solemnly  con- 
firmed the  Truce  of  God,  which  has  been  enjoined  upon  all 
Th  _  Christians,  from  the  setting  of  the  sun  of  the 
of  God  con-        fourth  day  of  the  week,  that  is  to  say,  Wednesday, 

until  the  rising  of  the  sun  on  Monday,  the  second 

day.     .     .     .     If.  any  one  during  the  Truce  shall  violate  it,  let 

him  pay  a  double  composition  and  subsequently  undergo  the 

ordeal  of  cold  water.2     When  any  one  during  the  Truce  shall  kill 

...  a  man,  it  has  been  ordained,  with  the  approval  of 

violations  of       all  Christians,  that  if  the  crime  was  committed 
th©  Trues 

intentionally  the  murderer  shall  be  condemned  to 
perpetual  exile,  but  if  it  occurred  by  accident  the  slayer  shall 
be  banished  for  a  period  of  time  to  be  fixed  by  the  bishops  and 

1  That  is,  the  penalty  for  using  violence  against  peaceful  churchmen,  or 
despoiling  their  property  was  to  be  twice  that  demanded  by  the  law  in  case 
of  similar  offenses  committed  against  laymen. 

2  The  ordeal  of  cold  water  was  designed  to  test  a  man's  guilt  or  inno- 
cence. The  accused  person  was  thrown  into  a  pond  and  if  he  sank  he  was 
considered  innocent;  if  he  floated,  guilty,  on  the  supposition  that  the  pure 
Water  would  refuse  to  receive  a  person  tainted  with  crime  [see  p.  200]. 


232  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

the  canons.  If  any  one  during  the  Truce  shall  attempt  to  seize 
a  man  or  to  carry  him  off  from  his  chateau,  and  does  not  suc- 
ceed in  his  purpose,  let  him  pay  a  fine  to  the  bishop  and  to  the 
chapter,  just  as  if  he  had  succeeded.  It  is  likewise  forbidden 
during  the  Truce,  in  Advent  and  Lent,  to  build  any  chateau 
or  fortification,  unless  it  was  begun  a  fortnight  before  the 
time  of  the  Truce.  It  has  been  ordained  also  that  at  all  times 
disputes  and  suits  on  the  subject  of  the  Peace  and  Truce  of  God 
shall  be  settled  before  the  bishop  and  his  chapter,  and  likewise 
for  the  peace  of  the  churches  which  have  before  been  enumer- 
ated. When  the  bishop  and  the  chapter  shall  have  pronounced 
sentences  to  recall  men  to  the  observance  of  the  Peace  and  the 
Truce  of  God,  the  sureties  and  hostages  who  show  themselves 
hostile  to  the  bishop  and  the  chapter  shall  be  excommunicated 
by  the  chapter  and  the  bishop,  with  their  protectors  and  par- 
tisans, as  guilty  of  violating  the  Peace  and  the  Truce  of  the 
Lord;  they  and  their  possessions  shall  be  excluded  from  the 
Peace  and  the  Truce  of  the  Lord. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST     . 
40.   The  Battle  of  Hastings :  the  English  and  the  Normans 

The  Northmen,  under  the  leadership  of  the  renowned  Rollo,  got 
their  first  permanent  foothold  in  that  important  part  of  France  since 
known  as  Normandy  in  the  year  911  [see  p.  171].  Almost  from  the 
beginning  the  new  county  (later  duchy)  increased  rapidly  both  in 
territorial  extent  and  in  political  influence.  The  Northmen,  or  Nor- 
mans, were  a  vigorous,  ambitious,  and  on  the  whole  very  capable  people, 
and  they  needed  only  the  polishing  which  peaceful  contact  with  the 
French  could  give  to  make  them  one  of  the  most  virile  elements  in  the 
population  of  western  Europe.  They  gave  up  their  old  gods  and  ac- 
cepted Christianity,  ceased  to  speak  their  own  language  and  began  the 
use  of  French,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  became  ordinary  soldiers 
and  traders  instead  of  the  wild  pirates  their  forefathers  had  been.  The* 
spirit  of  unrest,  however,  and  the  love  of  adventure  so  deeply  ingrained 
in  their  natures  did  not  die  out,  and  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  they  continued  still  to  enjoy  nothing  quite  so  much  as  war,  es- 
pecially if  it  involved  hazardous  expeditions  across  seas.  Some  went 
to  help  the  Christians  of  Spain  against  the  Saracens;  some  went  to  aid 
the  Eastern  emperors  against  the  Turks;  others  went  to  Sicily  and 
southern  Italy,  where  they  conquered  weak  rulers  and  set  up  princi- 
palities of  their  own ;  and  finally,  under  the  leadership  of  Duke  William 
the  Bastard,  in  1066,  they  entered  upon  the  greatest  undertaking  of  all, 
i.  e.,  the  conquest  of  England  and  the  establishment  of  a  Norman 
chieftain  upon  the  throne  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kingdom. 

Duke  William  was  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  ambitious  feudal 
lords  of  France — more  powerful  really  than  the  French  king  himself. 
He  had  overcome  practically  all  opposition  among  his  unruly  vassals 
in  Normandy,  and  by  1066,  when  the  death  of  King  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor occurred  in  England,  he  was  ready  to  engage  in  great  enterprises 

233 


234  THE   NORMAN   CONQUEST 

which  gave  promise  of  enhanced  power  and  renown.  He  had  long 
cherished  a  claim  to  the  English  throne,  and  when  he  learned  that  in 
utter  disregard  of  this  claim  the  English  witan  had  chosen  Harold, 
son  of  the  West  Saxon  Earl  Godwin,  to  be  Edward's  successor,  he  pre- 
pared to  invade  the  island  kingdom  and  force  an  acknowledgment  of 
what  he  pretended  at  least  to  believe  were  his  rights.  Briefly  stated, 
William  claimed  trie  English  throne  on  the  ground  (1)  that  through  his 
wife  Matilda,  a  descendant  of  Emma,  Edward  the  Confessor's  mother, 
he  was  a  nearer  heir  than  was  Harold,  who  was  only  the  late  king's 
brother-in-law;  (2)  that  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  England  in  1051 
Edward  had  promised  him  the  inheritance;  and  (3)  that  Harold  him- 
self, when  some  years  before  he  had  been  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of 
Normandy,  had  sworn  on  sacred  relics  to  help  him  gain  the  crown. 
There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  actual  facts  in  connection  with  both  of 
these  last  two  points,  but  the  truth  is  that  all  of  William's  claims  taken 
together  were  not  worth  much,  since  the  recognized  principle  of  the 
English  government  was  that  the  king  should  be  chosen  by  the  wisemen, 
or  witan.  Harold  had  been  so  chosen  and  hence  was  in  every  way  the 
legitimate  sovereign. 

William,  however,  was  determined  to  press  his  claims  and,  after 
obtaining  the  blessing  of  the  Pope  (Alexander  II.),  he  gathered 
an  army  of  perhaps  65,000  Normans  and  adventurers  from  all 
parts  of  France  and  prepared  a  fleet  of  some  1,500  transports  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Dive  to  carry  his  troops  across  the  Channel.  Septem- 
ber 28,  1066,  the  start  was  made  and  the  following  day  the  host  landed 
at  Pevensey  in  Sussex.  Friday,  the  29th,  Hastings  was  selected  and 
fortified  to  serve  as  headquarters.  The  English  were  taken  at  great  dis- 
advantage. Only  two  days  before  the  Normans  crossed  the  Channel 
Harold  with  all  the  troops  he  could  muster  had  been  engaged  in  a  great 
battle  at  Stamford  Bridge,  in  Northumberland,  with  Harold  Hardrada, 
king  of  Norway,  who  was  making  an  independent  invasion.  The  Eng- 
lish had  won  the  fight,  but  they  were  not  in  a  position  to  meet  the 
Normans  as  they  might  otherwise  have  been.  With  admirable  energy, 
however,  Harold  marched  his  weary  army  southward  to  Senlac,  a  hill 
near  the  town  of  Hastings,  and  there  took  up  his  position  to  await  an 
attack  by  the  duke's  army.  The  battle  came  on  Saturday,  October  14, 
and  after  a  very  stubborn  contest,  in  which  Harold  was  slain,  it  re- 


'THE    BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS  235 

suited  in  a  decisive  victory  for  the  Normans.     Thereafter  the  conquest 
of  the  entire  kingdom,  while  by  no  means  easy,  was  inevitable. 

William  of  Malmesbury,  from  whose  Chronicle  of  the  Kings  of  England 
our  account  of  the  battle  and  of  the  two  contending  peoples  is  taken,  was 
a  Benedictine  monk,  born  of  a  Norman  father  and  an  English  mother. 
He  lived  about  1095-1150  and  hence  wrote  somewhat  over  half  a  cen- 
tury after  the  Conquest.  While  thus  not  strictly  a  contemporary,  he 
was  a  man  of  learning  and  discretion  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  he  made  his  history  as  accurate  as  he  was  able,  with  the  materials 
at  his  command.  His  parentage  must  have  enabled  him  to  understand 
both  combatants  in  an  unusual  degree  and,  though  his  sympathies  were 
with  the  conquerors,  we  may  take  his  characterizations  of  Saxon  and 
Norman  alike  to  be  at  least  fairly  reliable.  His  Chronicle  covers  the 
period  449-1135,  and  for  the  years  after  1066  it  is  the  fullest,  most 
carefully  written,  and  most  readable  account  of  English  affairs  that  we 
have. 


Source — Guilielmus  Monachi  Malmesburiensis,  De  gestis  regum  Anglorum 
[William  of  Malmesbury,  " Chronicle  of  the  Kings  of  England"]. 
Bk.  III.  Adapted  from  translation  by  John  Sharpe  (London, 
1815),  pp.  317-323. 

The  courageous  leaders  mutually  prepared  for  battle,  each 
according,  to  his  national  custom.  The  English  passed  the  night ! 
without  sleep,  in  drinking  and  singing,  and  in  the  morning  pro- 
ceeded without  delay  against  the  enemy.  All  on  foot,  armed 
with  battle-axes,  and  covering  themselves  in  front  by  joining 
H      th    E  their  shields,  they  formed  an  impenetrable  body 

lish  prepared  which  would  assuredly  have  secured  their  safety 
that  day  had  not  the  Normans,  by  a  pretended 
flight,  induced  them  to  open  their  ranks,  which  until  that  time, 
according  to  their  custom,  had  been  closely  knit  together. 
King  Harold  himself,  on  foot,  stood  with  his  brothers  near  the 
standard  in  order  that,  so  long  as  all  shared  equal  danger,  none 
could  think  of  retreating.  This  same  standard  William  sent, 
after  his  victory,  to  the  Pope.  It  was  richly  embroidered  with 
1  Friday  night,  October  13. 


236  THE   NORMAN   CONQUEST 

gold  and  precious  stones,  and  represented  the  figure  of  a  man 
fighting. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Normans  passed  the  whole  night  in 
confessing  their  sins,  and  received  the  communion  of  the  Lord's 
body  in  the  morning.  Their  infantry,  with  bows  and  arrows, 
formed  the  vanguard,  while  their  cavalry,  divided  into  wings, 
How  the  Nor-  was  placed  in  the  rear.  The  duke,  with  serene 
mans  prepared  countenance,  declaring  aloud  that  God  would 
favor  his  as  being  the  righteous  side,  called  for  his  arms;  and 
when,  through  the  haste  of  his  attendants,  he  had  put  on  his 
hauberk1  the  rear  part  before,  he  corrected  the  mistake  with  a" 
laugh,  saying,  "The  power  of  my  dukedom  shall  be  turned  into 
a  kingdom."  Then  starting  the  song  of  Roland,2  in  order  that 
the  warlike  example  of  that  hero  might  stimulate  the  soldiers, 
and  calling  on  God  for  assistance,  the  battle  commenced  on  both 
sides,  and  was  fought  with  great  ardor,  neither  side  yielding 
ground  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day. 

Observing  this,  William  gave  a  signal  to  his  troops,  that, 
pretending  flight,  they  should  withdraw  from  the  field.3  By 
means  of  this  device  the  solid  phalanx  of  the  English  opened  for 
the  purpose  of  cutting  down  the  fleeing  enemy  and  thus  brought 
upon  itself  swift  destruction;  for  the  Normans,  facing  about, 
William's  attacked  them,  thus  disordered,  and  compelled 

stratagem  them  to  fly.    In  this  manner,  deceived  by  strata- 

gem, they  met  an  honorable  death  in  avenging  their  country; 

i  A  long  coat  of  mail  made  of  interwoven  metal  rings. 

2  Roland,  count  of  Brittany,  was  slain  at  the  pass  of  Roncesvalles  in  the 
famous  attack  of  the  Gascons  upon  Charlemagne's  retreating  army  in  778. 
One  of  the  chronicles  says  simply,  "In  this  battle  Roland,  count  of  Brittany, 
was  slain,"  and  we  have  absolutely  no  other  historical  knowledge  of  the 
man.  His  career  was  taken  up  by  the  singers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  however, 
and  employed  to  typify  all  that  was  brave  and  daring  and  romantic.  It 
was  some  one  of  the  many  "songs  of  Roland"  that  William  used  at  Hastings 
to  stimulate  his  men. 

3  In  a  battle  so  closely  contested  this  was  a  dangerous  stratagem  and  its 
employment  seems  to  indicate  that  William  despaired  of  defeating  the 
English  by  direct  attack.  His  main  object,  in  which  he  was  altogether  suc- 
cessful, was  to  entice  the  English  into  abandoning  their  advantageous  posi- 
tion on  the  hilltop. 


THE    BATTLE    OF   HASTINGS  237 

nor  indeed  were  they  at  all  without  their  own  revenge,  for,  by 
frequently  making  a  stand,  they  slaughtered  their  pursuers  in 
heaps.  Getting  possession  of  a  higher  bit  of  ground,  they  drove 
back  the  Normans,  who  in  the  heat  of  pursuit  were  struggling  up 
the  slope,  into  the  valley  beneath,  where,  by  hurling  their  jave- 
lins and  rolling  down  stones  on  them  as  they  stood  below,  the 
English  easily  destroyed  them  to  a  man.  Besides,  by  a  short 
passage  with  which  they  were  acquainted,  they  avoided  a  deep 
ditch  and  trod  underfoot  such  a  multitude  of  their  enemies  in 
that  place  that  the  heaps  of  bodies  made  the  hollow  level  with 
the  plain.  This  alternating  victory,  first  of  one  side  and  then 
of  the  other,  continued  as  long  as  Harold  lived  to  check  the  re- 
treat; but  when  he  fell,  his  brain  pierced  by  an  arrow,  the  flight 
of  the  English  ceased  not  until  night.1 

In  the  battle  both  leaders  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
bravery.  Harold,  not  content  with  the  duties  of  a  general  and 
with  exhorting  others,  eagerly  assumed  himself  t*he  work  of  a 
common  soldier.  He  was  constantly  striking  down  the  enemy 
The  valor  at  close  quarters,  so  that  no  one  could  approach 

of  Harold  fcm  wj^  impUnity,  for  straightway  both  horse 

and  rider  would  be  felled  by  a  single  blow.  So  it  was  at  long 
range,  as  I  have  said,  that  the  enemy's  deadly  arrow  brought 
him  to  his  death.  One  of  the  Norman  soldiers  gashed  his  thigh 
with  a  sword,  as  he  lay  prostrate;  for  which  shameful  and  cow- 
ardly action  he  was  branded  with  ignominy  by  William  and 
expelled  from  the  army. 

William,  too,  was  equally  ready  to  encourage  his  soldiers  by 
his  voice  and  by  his  presence,  and  to  be  the  first  to  rush  forward 
to  attack  the  thickest  of  the  foe.  He  was  everywhere  fierce  and 
furious.    He  lost  three  choice  horses,  which  were  that  day  killed 

1  After  the  Norman  victory  was  practically  assured,  William  sought  to 
bring  the  battle  to  an  end  by  having  his  archers  shoot  into  the  air,  that  their 
arrows  might  fall  upon  the  group  of  soldiers,  including  the  king,  who  were 
holding  out  in  defense  of  the  English  standard.  It  was  in  this  way  that 
Harold  was  mortally  wounded;  he  died  immediately  from  the  blows  in- 
flicted by  Norman  knights  at  close  hand. 


238  THE   NORMAN   CONQUEST 

under  him.  The  dauntless  spirit  and  vigor  of  the  intrepid  gen- 
eral, however,  still  held  out.  Though  often  called  back  by  the 
William's  brav-  thoughtful  remonstrance  of  his  bodyguard,  he 
ery  and  ardor  st:ill  persisted  until  approaching  night  crowned  him 
with  complete  victory.  And  no  doubt  the  hand  of  God  so  pro- 
tected him  that  the  enemy  could  draw  no  blood  from  his  person, 
though  they  aimed  so  many  javelins  at  him. 

This  was  a  fatal  day  to  England,  and  melancholy  havoc  was 
wrought  in  our  dear  country  during  the  change  of  its  lords.1 
For  it  had  long  before  adopted  the  manners  of  the  Angles,  which 
had  indeed  altered  with  the  times;  for  in  the  first  years  of  their 
arrival  they  were  barbarians  in  their  look  and  manner,  warlike 
in  their  usages,  heathen  in  their  rites. 

After  embracing  the  faith  of  Christ,  by  degrees  and,  in  process 
of  time,  in  consequence  of  the  peace  which  they  enjoyed,  they 
consigned  warfare  to  a  secondary  place  and  gave  their  whole 
attention  to  religion.  I  am  not  speaking  of  the  poor,  the  mean- 
ness of  whose  fortune  often  restrains  them  from  overstepping 
the  bounds  of  justice;  I  omit,  too,  men  of  eccle- 
of  the  Saxons      siastical  rank,  whom  sometimes  respect  for  their 

before  the  Con-  profession  and  sometimes  the  fear  of  shame 
quest  ^ 

suffers  not  to  deviate  from  the  true  path;  I  speak 

of  princes,  who  from  the  greatness  of  their  power  might  have 
full  liberty  to  indulge  in  pleasure.  Some  of  these  in  their  own 
country,  and  others  at  Rome,  changing  their  habit,  obtained  a 
heavenly  kingdom  and  a  saintly  fellowship.  Many  others  dur- 
ing their  whole  lives  devoted  themselves  in  outward  appearance 
to  worldly  affairs,  but  in  order  that  they  might  expend  their 
treasures  on  the  poor  or  divide  them  amongst  monasteries. 

1  The  victory  at  Hastings  did  not  at  once  make  William  king,  but  it 
revealed  to  both  himself  and  the  English  people  that  the  crown  was  easily 
within  his  grasp.     After  the  battle  he  advanced  past  London  into  the  in- 


terior of  the  country.     Opposition  melted  before  him  and  on  Christmas 

"  ike,  having  already 
witan,  was  crowned  at  London  by  the  archbishop  of  York.     In  the  early- 


day,  1066,  the  Norman  duke,  having  already  been  regularly  elected  by  the 


years  of  his  reign  he  succeeded  in  making  his  power  recognized  in  the  more 
turbulent  north. 


THE    BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS  239 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  multitudes  of  bishops,  hermits,  and 
abbots?  Does  not  the  whole  island  blaze  with  such  numerous 
relics  of  its  own  people  that  you  can  scarcely  pass  a  village  of 
any  consequence  without  hearing  the  name  of  some  new  saint? 
And  of  how  many  more  has  all  remembrance  perished  through 
the  want  of  records? 

Nevertheless,  the  attention  to  literature  and  religion  had 
gradually  decreased  for  several  years  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Normans.  The  clergy,  contented  with  a  little  confused  learn- 
ing, could  scarcely  stammer  out  the  words  of  the  sacraments; 
and  a  person  who  understood  grammar  was  an  object  of  wonder 
and  astonishment.1  The  monks  mocked  the  rule  of  their  order 
R  t  d  l"  kv  fine  vestments  and  the  use  of  every  kind  of 
of  learning  and  food.  The  nobility,  given  up  to  luxury  and 
wantonness,  went  not  to  church  in  the  morning 
after  the  manner  of  Christians,  but  merely,  in  a  careless  manner, 
heard  matins  and  masses  from  a  hurrying  priest  in  their  cham- 
bers, amid  the  blandishments  of  their  wives.  The  community, 
left  unprotected,  became  a  prey  to  the  most  powerful,  who 
amassed  fortunes,  either  by  seizing  on  their  property  or  by  sell- 
ing their  persons  into  foreign  countries;  although  it  is  character- 
istic of  this  people  to  be  more  inclined  to  reveling  than  to  the 
accumulation  of  wealth. 

Drinking  in  parties  was  an  universal  practice,  in  which  occu- 
pation they  passed  entire  nights  as  well  as  days.  They  con- 
sumed their  whole  substance  in  mean  and  despicable  houses, 
unlike  the  Normans  and  French,  who  live  frugally  in  noble  and 
splendid  mansions.  The  vices  attendant  on  drunkenness,  which 
enervate  the  human  mind,  followed;  hence  it  came  about  that 
when  they  resisted  William,  with  more  rashness  and  precipitate 
fury  than  military  skill,  they  doomed  themselves  and  their 
country  to  slavery  by  a  single,  and  that  an  easy,  victory.2    For 

1  The  work  of  Alfred  had  not  been  consistently  followed  up  during  the 
century  and  a  half  since  his  death  [see  p.  185]. 

2  The  conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans  was  really  far  from  an  en- 


240  THE  NORMAN   CONQUEST 

nothing  is  less  effective  than  rashness;  and  what  begins  with 
violence  quickly  ceases  or  is  repelled.  The  English  at  that  time 
The  English  wore  snort  garments,  reaching  to  the  mid-knee; 
people  de-  they  had  their  hair  cropped,  their  beards  shaven, 

their  arms  laden  with  golden  bracelets,  their  skin 
adorned  with  tattooed  designs.  They  were  accustomed  to  eat 
until  they  became  surfeited,  and  to  drink  until  they  were  sick. 
These  latter  qualities  they  imparted  to  their  conquerors;  as  for 
the  rest,  they  adopted  their  manners.  I  would  not,  however, 
have  these  bad  characteristics  ascribed  to  the  English  univer- 
sally; I  know  that  many  of  the  clergy  at  that  day  trod  the  path 
of  sanctity  by  a  blameless  life.  I  know  that  many  of  the  laity, 
of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  in  this  nation  were  well-pleasing  to 
God.  Be  injustice  far  from  this  account;  the  accusation  does  not 
involve  the  whole,  indiscriminately.  But  as  in  peace  the  mercy 
of  God  often  cherishes  the  bad  and  the  good  together,  so,  equally, 
does  His  severity  sometimes  include  them  both  in  captivity. 

The  Normans — that  I  may  speak  of  them  also — were  at  that 
time,  and  are  even  now,  exceedingly  particular  in  their  dress 
and  delicate  in  their  food,  but  not  so  to  excess.  They  are  a  race 
accustomed  to  war,  and  can  hardly  live  without  it;  fierce  in  rush- 
ing against  the  enemy,  and,  where  force  fails  to  succeed,  ready 

A  descriDtion  ^°  use  stratagem  or  ^°  corrupt  by  bribery.  As 
of  the  Nor-  I  have  said,  they  live  in  spacious  houses  with 
economy,  envy  their  superiors,  wish  to  excel  their 
equals,  and  plunder  their  subjects,  though  they  defend  them 
from  others;  they  are  faithful  to  their  lords,  though  a  slight 
offense  alienates  them.  They  weigh  treachery  by  its  chance  of 
success,  and  change  their  sentiments  Tor  money.  The  most 
hospitable,  however,  of  all  nations,  they  esteem  strangers  worthy 
of  equal  honor  with  themselves;  they  also  intermarry  with  their 
vassals.     They  revived,  by  their  arrival,  the  rule  of  religion 

slavement.  Norman  rule  was  strict,  but  hardly  more  so  than  conditions 
warranted. 


WILLIAM   THE    CONQUEROR   AS   MAN   AND   AS   KING        241 

which  had  everywhere  grown  lifeless  in  England.1  You  might 
see  churches  rise  in  every  village,  and  monasteries  in  the  towns 
and  cities,  built  after  a  style  unknown  before;  you  might  behold 
the  country  flourishing  with  renewed  rites;  so  that  each  wealthy 
man  accounted  that  day  lost  to  him  which  he  had  neglected  to 
signalize  by  some  beneficent  act.    - 

41.   William  the  Conqueror  as  Man  and  as  King 

In  the  following  passage,  taken  from  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  we  have 
an  interesting  summary  of  the  character  of  the  Conqueror  and  of  his 
conduct  as  king  of  England.  Both  the  good  and  bad  sides  of  the 
picture  are  clearly  brought  out  and  perhaps  it  is  not  quite  easy  to  say 
which  is  given  the  greater  prominence.  On  the  one  hand  there  is 
William's  devotion  to  the  Church,  his  establishment  of  peace  and  order, 
his  mildness  in  dealing  with  all  but  those  who  had  antagonized  him, 
and  the  virtue  of  his  personal  life ;  on  the  other  is  his  severity,  rapac- 
ity, and  pride,  his  heavy  taxes  and  his  harsh  forest  laws.  As  one  writer 
says,  "the  Conquest  was  bad  as  well  as  good  for  England;  but  the 
harm  was  only  temporary,  the  good  permanent."  It  is  greatly  to  the 
credit  of  the  English  chronicler  that  he  was  able  to  deal  so  fairly  with 
the  character  of  one  whom  he  had  not  a  few  patriotic  reasons  for  ma- 
ligning. 

Source — The  Saxon   Chronicle.    Translated  by  J.  A.  Giles  (London,  1847), 
pp.  461-462. 

If  any  one  would  know  what  manner  of  man  King  William 

was,  the  glory  that  he  obtained,  and  of  how  many  lands  he  was 

lord,  then  will  we  describe  him  as  we  have  known  him,  we  who 

have  looked  upon  him  and  who  once  lived  at  his  court.     This 

King  William,  of  whom  we  are  speaking,  was  a  very  wise  and  a 

great  man,  and  more  honored  and  more  powerful  than  any  of 

1  It  seems  to  be  true,  as  William  of  Malmesbury  says,  that  the  century 
preceding  the  Norman  Conquest  had  been  an  era  of  religious  as  well  as 
literary  decline  among  the  English.  After  1066  the  native  clergy,  ignorant 
and  often  grossly  immoral,  were  gradually  replaced  by  Normans,  who  on 
the  whole  were  better  men.  By  1088  there  remained  only  one  bishop  of 
English  birth  in  the  entire  kingdom.  One  should  be  careful,  however,  not 
to  exaggerate  the  moral  differences  between  the  two  peoples. 

Med.  Hist.— 16 


242  THE   NORMAN   CONQUEST 

his  predecessors.  He  was  mild  to  those  good  men  who  loved 
God,  but  severe  beyond  measure  towards  those  who  withstood 
William's  his  will.     He  founded  a  noble  monastery  on  the 

religious  zeal  gpot  where  Q0d  permitted  him  to  conquer  Eng- 
land, and  he  established  monks  in  it,  and  he  made  it  very  rich.1 
In  his  days  the  great  monastery  at  Canterbury  was  built,2  and 
many  others  also  throughout  England;  moreover,  this  land  was 
filled  with  monks  who  lived  after  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict;  and 
such  was  the  state  of  religion  in  his  days  that  all  who  would 
might  observe  that  which  was  prescribed  by  their  respective 
orders. 

King  William  was  also  held  in  much  reverence.  He  wore  his 
crown  three  times  every  year  when  he  was  in  England :  at  Easter 
he  wore  it  at  Winchester,3  at  Pentecost  at  Westminster,4  and  at 
Christmas  at  Gloucester.5  And  at  these  times  all  the  men  of 
His  strong  England   were   with   him,   archbishops,  bishops, 

government  abbots  and  earls,  thanes  6  and  knights.7  So  also 
was  he  a  very  stern  and  a  wrathful  man,  so  that  none  durst 
do  anything  against  his  will,  and   he  kept  in  prison  those  earls 

1  The  story  goes  that  just  before  entering  the  battle  of  Hastings  in  1066 
William  made  a  vow  that  if  successful  he  would  establish  a  monastery  on 
the  site  where  Harold's  standard  stood.  The  vow  was  fulfilled  by  the 
founding  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Martin,  or  Battle  Abbey,  in  the  years  1070- 
1076.    The  monastery  was  not  ready  for  consecration  until  1094. 

2  Christchurch.  This  cathedral  monastery  had  been  organized  before  the 
Conqueror's  day,  but  it  was  much  increased  in  size  and  in  importance  by 
Lanfranc,  William's  archbishop  of  Canterbury;  and  the  great  building 
which  it  occupied  in  the  later  Middle  Ages  was  constructed  at  this  time. 

3  In  Hampshire,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  kingdom. 

4  In  Middlesex,  near  London. 

5  On  the  Severn,  in  the  modern  county  of  Gloucester. 

6  A  thane  (or  thegn)  was  originally  a  young  warrior;  then  one  who  became 
a  noble  by  serving  the  king  in  arms;  then  the  possessor  of  five  hides  of  land. 
A  hide  was  a  measure  of  arable  ground  varying  in  extent  at  the  time  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  but  by  Henry  II. 's  reign  (1154-1189)  fixed  at  about 
100  acres.  The  thane  before  the  Conquest  occupied  nearly  the  same  position 
socially  as  the  knight  after  it. 

7  This  assembly  of  dignitaries,  summoned  by  the  king  three  times  a  year, 
was  the  so-called  Great  Council,  which  in  Norman  times  supersedea  the 
old  Saxon  witan.  Its  duties  were  mainly  judicial.  It  acted  also  as  an  ad- 
visory body,  but  the  king  was  not  obliged  to  consult  it  or  to  carry  out  its 
recommendations  [see  p.  307,  note  2]. 


WILLIAM   THE   CONQUEROR   AS   MAN   AND   AS   KING        243 

who  acted  against  his  pleasure.  He  removed  bishops  from  their 
sees  1  and  abbots  from  their  offices,  and  he  imprisoned  thanes, 
and  at  length  he  spared  not  his  own  brother  Odo.  This  Odo  was 
a  very  powerful  bishop  in  Normandy.  His  see  was  that  of 
Bayeux,2  and  he  was  foremost  to  serve  the  king.  He  had  an 
earldom  in  England,  and  when  William  was  in  Normandy  he 
[Odo]  was  the  first  man  in  this  country  [England],  and  him  did 
William  cast  into  prison.3 

Amongst  other  things,  the  good  order  that  William  established 
is  not  to  be  forgotten.  It  was  such  that  any  man,  who  was  him- 
self aught,  might  travel  over  the  kingdom  with  a  bosom  full  of 
gold  unmolested;  and  no  man  durst  kill  another,  however  great 
the  injury  he  might  have  received  from  him.  He  reigned  over 
England,  and  being  sharp-sighted  to  his  own  interest,  he  sur- 
veyed the  kingdom  so  thoroughly  that  there  was  not  a  single 
The  extent  of  hide  of  land  throughout  the  whole  of  which  he 
his  power  knew  not  the  possessor,  and  how  much  it  was 

worth,  and  this  he  afterwards  entered  in  his  register.4  The  land 
of  the  Britons  [Wales]  was  under  his  sway,  and  he  built  castles 
therein;  moreover  he  had  full  dominion  over  the  Isle  of  Man;  5 
Scotland  also  was  subject  to  him,  from  his  great  strength;  the 
land  of  Normandy  was  his  by  inheritance,  and  he  possessed  the 
earldom  of  Maine;6  and  had  he  lived  two  years  longer,  he  would 
have  subdued  Ireland  by  his  prowess,  and  that  without  a  battle.7 

Truly  there  was  much  trouble  in  these  times,  and  very  great 

1  The  see  of  a  bishop  is  his  ecclesiastical  office;  the  area  over  which  his 
authority  extends  is  more  properly  known  as  his  diocese. 

2  On  the  Orne  River,  near  the  English  Channel. 

3  Odo,  though  a  churchman,  was  a  man  of  brutal  instincts  and  evil  char- 
acter. Through  his  high-handed  course,  both  as  a  leading  ecclesiastical 
dignitary  in  Normandy  and  as  earl  of  Kent  and  vicegerent  in  England,  he 
gave  William  no  small  amount  of  trouble.  The  king  finally  grew  tired  of 
his  brother's  conduct  and  had  him  imprisoned  in  the  town  of  Rouen  where 
he  was  left  for  four  years,  or  until  the  end  of  the  reign  (1087). 

4  This  was  the  famous  Domesday  Survey,  begun  in  1085. 

5  In  the  Irish  Sea. 

6  Maine  lay  directly  to  the  south  of  Normandy. 

7  This  statement  is  doubtful,  though  it  is  true  that  Lanfranc  made  a  be- 
ginning by  consecrating  a  number  of  bishops  in  Ireland. 


244  THE   NORMAN   CONQUEST 

distress.  He  caused  castles  to  be  built  and  oppressed  the  poor. 
The  king  was  also  of  great  sternness,  and  he  took  from  his  sub- 
jects many  marks  of  gold,  and  many  hundred  pounds  of  silver, 
and  this,  either  with  or  without  right,  and  with  little  need.  He 
was  given  to  avarice,  and  greedily  loved  gain.1  He  made  large 
forests  for  the  deer,  and  enacted  laws  therewith,  so  that  whoever 
killed  a  hart  or  a  hind  should  be  blinded.  '  As  he  forbade  killing 
His  faults  the  deer,  so  also  the  boars;  and  he  loved  the  tall 

as  a  ruler  stags  as  if  he  were  their  father.     He  also  com- 

manded concerning  the  hares,  that  they  should  go  free.2  The 
rich  complained  and  the  poor  murmured,  but  he  was  so  sturdy 
that  he  recked  nought  of  them;  they  must  will  all  that  the  king 
willed,  if  they  would  live,  or  would  keep  their  lands,  or  would  hold 
their  possessions,  or  would  be  maintained  in  their  rights.  Alas 
that  any  man  should  so  exalt  himself,  and  carry  himself  in  his 
pride  over  all!  May  Almighty  God  show  mercy  to  his  soul,  and 
grant  him  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins !  We  have  written  concern- 
ing him  these  things,  both  good  and  bad,  that  virtuous  men 
may  follow  after  the  good,  and  wholly  avoid  the  evil,  and 
may  go  in  the  way  that  leadeth  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

1  All  of  the  early  Norman  kings  were  greedy  for  money  and  apt  to  bear 
heavily  upon  the  people  in  their  efforts  to  get  it.  Englishmen  were  not 
accustomed  to  general  taxation  and  felt  the  new  regime  to  be  a  serious 
burden.  There  was  consequently  much  complaint,  but,  as  our  historian 
says,  William  was  strong  enough  to  be  able  to  ignore  it. 

2  Most  of  William's  harsh  measures  can  be  justified  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  designed  to  promote  the  ultimate  welfare  of  his  people.  This 
is  not  true,  however,  of  his  elaborate  forest  laws,  which  undertook  to  de- 
prive Englishmen  of  their  accustomed  freedom  of  hunting  when  and  where 
they  pleased.  William's  love  of  the  chase  amounted  to  a  passion  and  he 
was  not  satisfied  with  merely  enacting  such  stringent  measures  as  that  the 
slayer  of  a  hart  or  a  hind  in  his  forests  should  be  blinded,  but  also  set  apait 
a  great  stretch  of  additional  country,  the  so-called  New  Forest,  as  his  own 
exclusive  hunting  grounds. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE   MONASTIC   REFORMATION   OF   THE  TENTH,  ELEVENTH, 
AND  TWELFTH  CENTURIES 

42.    The  Foundation  Charter  of  the  Monastery  of  Cluny  (910) 

Throughout  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  the  Benedictine  Rule  [see 
p.  83]  was  the  code  under  which  were  governed  practically  all  the 
monastic  establishments  of  western  Europe.  There  was  a  natural 
tendency,  however,  for  the  severe  and  exacting  features  of  the  Rule  to 
be  softened  considerably  in  actual  practice.  As  one  writer  puts  it,  "  the 
excessive  abstinence  and  many  other  of  the  mechanical  observances  of 
the  rule  were  soon  found  to  have  little  real  utility  when  simply  enforced 
by  a  rule,  and  not  practiced  willingly  for  the  sake  of  self-discipline." 
The  obligation  of  manual  labor,  for  example,  was  frequently  dispensed 
with  in  order  that  the  monks  might  occupy  themselves  with  the  studies 
for  which  the  Benedictines  have  always  been  famous.  Too  often  such 
relaxation  was  but  a  pretext  for  the  indulgence  of  idleness  or  vice. 
The  disrepute  into  which  such  tendencies  brought  the  monastics  in 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  gave  rise  to  numerous  attempts  to 
revive  the  primitive  discipline,  the  most  notable  of  which  was  the  so- 
called  "Cluniac  movement." 

The  monastery  of  Cluny,  on  the  borders  of  Aquitaine  and  Burgundy, 
was  established  under  the  terms  of  a  charter  issued  by  William  the 
Pious,  duke  of  Aquitaine  and  count  of  Auvergne,  September  11,  910. 
The  conditions  of  its  foundation,  set  forth  in  the  text  of  the  charter 
given  below,  were  in  many  ways  typical.  The  history  of  the  monastery 
was,  however,  quite  exceptional.  During  the  invasions  and  civil  wars 
of  the  latter  half  of  the  ninth  century,  many  of  the  monasteries  of  west- 
ern Europe  had  fallen  under  the  control  of  unscrupulous  laymen  who 
used  them  mainly  to  satisfy  their  greed  or  ambition,  and  in  conse- 
quence by  the  time  that  Cluny  was  founded 'the  standard  of  monastic 

245 


246  THE   MONASTIC   REFORMATION 

life  and  service  had  been  seriously  impaired.  The  monks  had  grown 
worldly,  education  was  neglected,  and  religious  services  had  become 
empty  formalities.  Powerful  nobles  used  their  positions  of  advantage 
to  influence,  and  often  to  dictate,  the  election  of  bishops  and  abbots, 
and  the  men  thus  elected  were  likely  enough  to  be  unworthy  of  their 
offices  in  both  character  and  ability.  The  charter  of  the  Cluny  monas- 
tery, however,  expressly  provided  that  the  abbot  should  be  chosen  by 
canonical  election,  i.  e.,  by  the  monks,  and  without  any  sort  of  outside 
interference.  The  life  of  the  monastery  was  to  be  regulated  by  the 
Benedictine  Rule,  though  with  rather  less  stress  on  manual  labor  and 
rather  more  on  religious  services  and  literary  employment.  Cluny, 
indeed,  soon  came  to  be  one  of  the  principal  centers  of  learning  in  west- 
ern Europe,  as  well  as  perhaps  the  greatest  administrator  of  charity. 

Another  notable  achievement  of  Cluny  was  the  building  up  of  the  so- 
called  "Cluny  Congregation.' '  Hitherto  it  had  been  customary  for  mon- 
asteries to  be  entirely  independent  of  one  another,  even  when  founded 
by  monks  sent  out  from  a  parent  establishment.  Cluny,  however,  kept 
under  the  control  of  her  own  abbot  all  monasteries  founded  by  her 
agents  and  made  the  priors  of  these  monasteries  directly  responsible 
to  him.  Many  outside  abbeys  were  drawn  into  the  new  system,  so  that 
by  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  Cluny  congregation  was  com- 
prised of  more  than  two  thousand  monasteries,  all  working  harmoniously 
under  a  single  abbot-general.  The  majority  of  these  were  in  France,  but 
there  were  many  also  in  Spain,  Italy,  Poland,  Germany,  and  England. 
It  was  the  Cluny  monks  who  gave  the  Pope  his  chief  support  in  the 
struggle  to  free  the  Church  from  lay  investiture  and  simony  and  to 
enforce  the  ideal  of  a  celibate  clergy.  This  movement  for  reform  may 
properly  be  said,  indeed,  to  have  originated  with  the  Cluniacs  and  to 
have  been  taken  up  only  later  by  the  popes,  chiefly  by  Gregory  VII. 
By  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  Cluniac  discipline  had  begun  to 
grow  lax  and  conditions  were  gradually  shaped  for  another  wave  of 
monastic  reform,  which  came  with  the  establishment  of  the  Carthusians 
(in  1084)  and  of  the  Cistercians  (in  1098). 


CHARTER  OF  THE  CLUNY  MONASTERY         247 


Source — Text*  in  Martin  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la 
France  ["Collection  of  the  Historians  of  Gaul  and  of  France"] 
(Paris,  1874),  Vol.  IX.,  pp.  709-711. 

To  all  who  think  wisely  it  is  evident  that  the  providence  of 
God  has  made  it  possible  for  rich  men,  by  using  well  their  tem- 
poral possessions,  to  be  able  to  merit  eternal  rewards.  .  .  . 
I,  William,  count  and  duke,  after  diligent  reflection,  and  desir- 
ing to  provide  for  my  own  safety  while  there  is  still  time,  have 
decided  that  it  is  advisable,  indeed  absolutely  necessary,  that 
Motives  from  the  possessions  which  God  has  given  me  I 

Wiluam^s  should  give  some  portion  for  the  good  of  my  soul. 

benefaction  I  do  this,  indeed,  in  order  that  I  who  have  thus  in- 
creased in  wealth  may  not  at  the  last  be  accused  of  having  spent  all 
in  caring  for  my  body,  but  rather  may  rejoice,  when  fate  at  length 
shall  snatch  all  things  away,  in  having  preserved  something  for 
myself.  I  cannot  do  better  than  follow  the  precepts  of  Christ 
and  make  His  poor  my  friends.  That  my  gift  may  be  durable  and 
not  transitory  I  will  support  at  my  own  expense  a  congregation 
of  monks.  And  I  hope  that  I  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the 
righteous  because  I  have  received  those  whom  I  believe  to  be 
righteous  and  who  despise  the  world,  although  I  myself  am  not 
able  to  despise  all  things.1 

Therefore  be  it  known  to  all  who  live  in  the  unity  of  the  faith 
and  who  await  the  mercy  of  Christ,  and  to  those  who  shall  suc- 
ceed them  and  who  shall  continue  to  exist  until  the  end  of  the 
world,  that,  for  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
I  hand  over  from  my  own  rule  to  the  holy  apostles,  namely, 
Th  l  d  d  Peter  and  Paul,  the  possessions  over  which  I  hold 
other  property  sway — the  town  of    Cluny,  with  the  court  and 

rpdpd 

demesne  manor,  and  the  church  in  honor  of  St. 
Mary,  the  mother  of  God,  and  of  St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  together  with  all  the  things  pertaining  to  it,  the  villas, 

1  In  other  words,  it  is  Duke  William's  hope  that,  though  not  himself 
willing  to  be  restricted  to  the  life  of  a  monk,  he  may  secure  substantially 
an  equivalent  reward  by  patronizing  men  who  are  thus  willing. 


248  THE   MONASTIC   REFORMATION 

the  chapels,  the  serfs  of  both  sexes,  the  vines,  the  fields,  the 
meadows,  the  woods,  the  waters  and  their  outlets,  the  mills,  the 
incomes  and  revenues,  what  is  cultivated  and  what  is  not,  all 
without  reserve.  These  things  are  situated  in  or  about  the 
county  of  Macon,1  each  one  marked  off  by  definite  bounds.  I 
give,  moreover,  all  these  things  to  the  aforesaid  apostles — I, 
William,  and  my  wife  Ingelberga — first  for  the  love  of  God ;  then 
for  the  soul  of  my  lord  King  Odo,  of  my  father  and  my  mother; 
for  myself  and  my  wife, — for  the  salvation,  namely,  of  our  souls 
and  bodies;  and  not  least,  for  that  of  Ava,  who  left  me  these 
things  in  her  will;  for  the  souls  also  of  our  brothers  and  sisters 
and  nephews,  and  of  all  our  relatives  of  both  sexes;  for  our  faith- 
ful ones  who  adhere  to  our  service;  for  the  advancement,  also, 
and  integrity  of  the  Catholic  religion.  Finally,  since  all  of  us 
Christians  are  held  together  by  one  bond  of  love  and  faith,  let 
this  donation  be  for  all — for  the  orthodox,  namely,  of  past, 
present,  or  future  times. 

I  give  these  things,  moreover,  with  this  understanding,  that 
in  Cluny  a  monastery  shall  be  constructed  in  honor  of  the  holy 
apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  that  there  the  monks  shall  con- 
gregate and  live  according  to  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  and  that 

they  shall  possess  and  make  use  of  these  same 
A  monastery  J  ^ 

to  be  estab-  things  for  all  time.  In  such  wise,  however,  that 
the  venerable  house  of  prayer  which  is  there  shall 
be  faithfully  frequented  with  vows  and  supplications,  and  that 
heavenly  conversations  shall  be  sought  after  with  all  desire  and 
with  the  deepest  ardor;  and  also  that  there  shall  be  diligently 
directed  to  God  prayers  and  exhortations,  as  well  for  me  as  for 
all,  according  to  the  order  in  which  mention  has  been  made  of 
them  above.  And  let  the  monks  themselves,  together  with  all 
aforesaid  possessions,  be  under  the  power  and  dominion  of  the 
abbot  Berno,  who,  as  long  as  he  shall  live,  shall  preside  over 

i  Macon,  the  scat  of  the  diocese  in  which  Cluny  was  situated,  was  on  the 
Saone,  a  short  distance  to  the  southeast. 


CHARTER  OF  THE  CLUNY  MONASTERY         249 

them  regularly  according  to  his  knowledge  and  ability.1     But 

after  his  death,  those  same  monks  shall  have  power  and  per- 

„,    ^       *  mission  to  elect  any  one  of   their  order  whom 

Election  of  J  . 

abbots  to  be        they  please  as  abbot  and  rector,  following  the  will 

canonica  o£  q^  an(j  ^e  rme  promulgated  by  St.  Bene- 

dict— in  such  wise  that  neither  by  the  intervention  of  our  own  or 
of  any  other  power  may  they  be  impeded  from  making  a  purely  ca- 
nonical election.  Every  five  years,  moreover,  the  aforesaid  monks 
shall  pay  to  the  church  of  the  apostles  at  Rome  ten  shillings  to 
supply  them  with  lights;  and  they  shall  have  the  protection  of 
those  same  apostles  and  the  defense  of  the  Roman  pontiff;  and 
those  monks  may,  with  their  whole  heart  and  soul,  according  to 
their  ability  and  knowledge,  build  up  the  aforesaid  place. 

We  will,  further,  that  in  our  times  and  in  those  of  our  suc- 
cessors, according  as  the  opportunities  and  possibilities  of  that 
Works  of  char-  place  shall  allow,  there  shall  daily,  with  the  great- 
ity  enjoined  est  zeai  ^  j^  performed  works  of  mercy  towards 
the  poor,  the  needy,  strangers,  and  pilgrims.2  It  has  pleased  us 
also  to  insert  in  this  document  that,  from  this  day,  those  same 
monks  there  congregated  shall  be  subject  neither  to  our  yoke, 
nor  to  that  of  our  relatives,  nor  to  the  sway  of  the  royal  might, 
nor  to  that  of  any  earthly  power.  And,  through  God  and  all  His 
saints,  and  by  the  awful  day  of  judgment,  I  warn  and  admonish 
that  no  one  of  the  secular  princes,  no  count,  no  bishop,  not  even 
the  pontiff  of  the  aforesaid  Roman  see,  shall  invade  the  property 
of  these  servants  of  God,  or  alienate  it,  or  diminish  it,  or  ex- 
change it,  or  give  it  as  a  benefice  to  any  one,  or  set  up  any  prelate 
over  them  against  their  will.3 

i  Berno  served  as  abbot  of  Cluny  from  910  until  927. 

2  That  the  charitable  side  of  the  monastery's  work  was  well  attended 
to  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  a  single  year,  late  in  the  eleventh  century, 
seventeen  thousand  poor  were  given  assistance  by  the  monks. 

3  The  remainder  of  the  charter  consists  of  a  series  of  imprecations  of 
disaster  and  punishment  upon  all  who  at  any  time  and  in  any  way  should 
undertake  to  interfere  with  the  vested  rights  just  granted.  These  im- 
precations were  strictly  typical  of  the  mediaeval  spirit — so  much  so  that 
many  of  them  came  to  be  mere  formulae,  employed  to  give  documents  due 


250  THE   MONASTIC   REFORMATION 

43.   The  Early  Career  of  St.  Bernard  and  the  Founding  of  Clairvaux 

The  most  important  individual  who  had  part  in  the  twelfth  century 
movement  for  monastic  reform  was  unquestionably  St.  Bernard,  of 
whom  indeed  it  has  been  said  with  reason  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
there  was  no  more  influential  man  in  Europe.  Born  in  1091,  he  came 
upon  the  scene  when  times  were  ripe  for  great  deeds  and  great  careers, 
whether  with  the  crusading  hosts  in  the  East  or  in  the  vexed  swirl  of 
secular  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  the  West.  Particularly  were  the 
times  ripe  for  a  great  preacher  and  reformer — one  who  could  avail  him- 
self of  the  fresh  zeal  of  the  crusading  period  and  turn  a  portion  of  it  to 
the  regeneration  of  the  corrupt  and  sluggish  spiritual  life  which  in  far 
too  great  a  measure  had  crept  in  to  replace  the  earlier  purity  and  devo- 
tion of  the  clergy.  The  need  of  reform  was  perhaps  most  conspicuous 
in  the  monasteries,  for  many  monastic  establishments  had  not  been 
greatly  affected  by  the  Cluniac  movement  of  the  previous  century,  and 
in  many  of  those  which  had  been  touched  temporarily  the  purifying 
influences  had  about  ceased  to  produce  results.  It  was  as  a  monastic 
reformer  that  St.  Bernard  rendered  greatest  service  to  the  Church  of 
his  day,  though  he  was  far  more  than  a  mere  zealot.  He  was,  says 
Professor  Emerton,  more  than  any  other  man,  representative  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages.  "The  monastery  meant  to  him,  not  a  place  of 
easy  and  luxurious  retirement,  where  a  man  might  keep  himself  pure 
from  earthly  contact,  nor  even  a  home  of  learning,  from  which  a  man 
might  influence  his  world.  It  meant  rather  a  place  of  pitiless  discipline, 
whereby  the  natural  man  should  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  terms  and 
thus  the  spiritual  life  be  given  its  largest  liberty.  The  aim  of  Bernard 
was  nothing  less  than  the  regeneration  of  society  through  the  presence 
in  it  of  devoted  men,  bound  together  by  a  compact  organization,  and 
holding  up  to  the  world  the  highest  types  of  an  ideal  which  had  already 
fixed  itself  in  the  imagination  of  the  age."  1 

The  founding  of  Clairvaux  by  St.  Bernard,  in  1115,  was  not  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  monastic  order;  the  Cistercians,  to  whom  the  estab- 
lishment properly  belonged,  had  originated  at  Citeaux  seventeen  years 
before.     But  in  later  times  St.  Bernard  was  very  properly  regarded  as  a 

solemnity,  but  without  any  especially  direful  designs  on  the  part  of  the  writer 
who  used  them. 

i  Emerton,  Mediaeval  Europe ,  p.  458. 


THE  EARLY  CAREER  OF  ST.  BERNARD         251 

second  founder  of  the  Cistercians,  and  the  story  of  his  going  forth  from 
the  parent  house  to  establish  the  new  one  affords  an  excellent  illustra- 
tion of  the  spirit  which  dominated  the  leaders  in  monastic  reform  in 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  and  of  the  methods  they  employed 
to  keep  alive  the  lofty  ideals  of  the  old  Benedictine  system;  and,  al- 
though individual  monasteries  were  founded  under  the  most  diverse 
circumstances,  the  story  is  of  interest  as  showing  us  the  precise  way  in 
which  one  monastic  house  took  its  origin.  By  the  time  of  St.  Bernard's 
death  (1153)  not  fewer  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  religious  houses  had 
been  regenerated  under  his  inspiration. 

We  are  fortunate  in  possessing  a  composite  biography  of  the  great 
reformer  which  is  practically  contemporary.  It  is  in  five  books,  the  first 
of  which  was  written  by  William,  abbot  of  St.  Thierry  of  Rheims;  the 
second  by  Arnold,  abbot  of  Bonneval,  near  Chartres;  and  the  third, 
fourth,  and  fifth  by  Geoffrey,  a  monk  of  Clairvaux  and  a  former  secre- 
tary of  St.  Bernard.  William  of  St.  Thierry  (from  whose  portion  of  the 
biography  selection  "a"  below  is  taken)  wrote  about  1140,  Arnold  and 
Geoffrey  soon  after  Bernard's  death  in  1153. 

Sources — (a)  Guillaume  de  -Saint-Thierry,  Bernardus    Clarcevallensis  [Wil- 
liam of  Saint  Thierry,  "  Life  of  St.  Bernard ' '],  Bk.  I. ,  Chaps.  1-4. 

(b)  The  Acta  Sanctorum.    Translated  in  Edward  L.  Cutts,  Scenes 
and  Characters  of  the  Middle  Ages  (London,  1872),  pp.  11-12. 

(a) 
Saint  Bernard  was  born  at  Fontaines  in  Burgundy  [near 
Dijon],  at  the  castle  of  his  father.  His  parents  were  famed 
among  the  famous  of  that  age,  most  of  all  because  of  their  piety. 
His  father,  Tescelin,  was  a  member  of  an  ancient  and  knightly 
family,  fearing  God  and  scrupulously  just.  Even  when  engaged 
in  holy  war  he  plundered  and  destroyed  no  one;  he  contented 
himself  with  his  worldly  possessions,  of  which  he  had  an  abund- 
ance, and  used  them  in  all  manner  of  good  works.  With  both 
Bernard's  his  counsel  and  his  arms  he  served  temporal  lords, 

parents  j-^  s0  as  never  t0  neglect  to  render  to  the  sover- 

eign Lord  that  which  was  due  Him.  Bernard's  mother,  Alith, 
of  the  castle  Montbar,  mindful  of  holy  law,  was  submissive  to 


252  THE   MONASTIC  REFORMATION 

her  husband  and,  with  him,  governed  the  household  in  the  fear 
of  God,  devoting  herself  to  deeds  of  mercy  and  rearing  her  chil- 
dren in  strict  discipline.  She  bore  seven  children,  six  boys  and 
one  girl,  not  so  much  for  the  glory  of  her  husband  as  for  that 
of  God;  for  all  the  sons  became  monks  and  the  daughter  a 
nun.1     .     .     . 

As  soon  as  Bernard  was  of  sufficient  age  his  mother  intrusted 
his  education  to  the  teachers  in  the  church  at  Chatillon  2  and 
did  everything  in  her  power  to  enable  him  to  make  rapid  prog- 
ress. The  young  boy,  abounding  in  pleasing  qualities  and  en- 
dowed with  natural  genius,  fulfilled  his  mother's  every  expecta- 
tion; for  he  advanced  in  his  study  of  letters  at  a  speed  beyond 
his  age  and  that  of  other  children  of  the  same  age.  But  in  secular 
matters  he  began  already,  and  very  naturally,  to  humble  him- 
His  early  self  in  the  interest  of  his  future  perfection,  for 

characteristics  ^e  exhibited  the  greatest  simplicity,  loved  to  be 
in  solitude,  fled  from  people,  was  extraordinarily  thoughtful, 
submitted  himself  implicitly  to  his  parents,  had  little  desire  to 
converse,  was  devoted  to  God,  and  applied  himself  to  his  studies 
as  the  means  by  which  he  should  be  able  to  learn  of  God  through 
the  Scriptures.     .     .     . 

Determined  that  it  would  be  best  for  him  to  abandon  the 
world,  he  began  to  inquire  where  his  soul,  under  the  yoke  of 
Christ,  would  be  able  to  find  the  most  complete  and  sure  repose. 
The  recent  establishment  of  the  order  of  Citeaux  3  suggested 
itself  to  his  thought.  The  harvest  was  abundant,  but  the 
He  decides  to  laborers  were  few,  for  hardly  any  one  had  sought 
become  a  monk  happiness  by  taking  up  residence  there,  because  of 
the  excessive  austerity  of  life  and  the  poverty 
which  there  prevailed,  but  which  had  no  terrors  for  the  soul  truly 
seeking  God.     Without  hesitation  or  misgivings,  he  turned  his 

1  Bernard  was  the  third  son. 

2  About  sixty  miles  southeast  of  Troyes. 

3  Citeaux  (established  by  Odo,  duke  of  Burgundy,  in  1098)  was  near 
Dijon  in  Burgundy. 


THE  EARLY  CAREER  OF  ST.  BERNARD         253 

steps  to  that  place,  thinking  that  there  he  would  be  able  to  find 
seclusion  and,  in  the  secret  of  the  presence  of  God,  escape  the 
importunities  of  men;  wishing  particularly  there  to  gain  a  refuge 
from  the  vain  glory  of  the  noble's  life,  and  to  win  purity  of  soul, 
and  perhaps  the  name  of  saint. 

When  his  brothers,  who  loved  him  according  to  the  flesh, 
discovered  that  he  intended  to  become  a  monk,  they  employed 
every  means  to  turn  him  to  the  pursuit  of  letters  and  to  attach 
him  to  the  secular  life  by  the  love  of  worldly  knowledge.  With- 
out doubt,  as  he  has  himself  declared,  he  was  not  a  little  moved 
by  their  arguments.  But  the  memory  of  his  devout  mother 
urged  him  importunately  to  take  the  step.  It  often  seemed  to 
him  that  she  appeared  before  him,  reproaching  him  and  remind- 
ing him  that  she  had  not  reared  him  for  frivolous  things  of  that 
sort,  and  that  she  had  brought  him  up  in  quite  another  hope. 
Finally,  one  day  when  he  was  returning  from  the  siege  of  a 
chateau  called  Grancey,  and  was  coming  to  his  brothers,  who 
were  with  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  he  began  to  be  violently  tor- 
mented by  these  thoughts.  Finding  by  the  roadside  a  church, 
he  went  in  and  there  prayed,  with  flooded  eyes,  lifting  his  hands 
toward  Heaven  and  pouring  out  his  heart  like  water  before  the 
Lord.  That  day  fixed  his  resolution  irrevocably.  From  that 
His  struggle  hour,  even  as  the  fire  consumes  the  forests  and 
and  his  victory  ^e  flame  ravages  the  mountains,  seizing  every- 
thing, devouring  first  that  which  is  nearest  but  advancing  to 
objects  farther  removed,  so  did  the  fire  which  God  had  kindled 
in  the  heart  of  his  servant,  desiring  that  it  should  consume  it, 
lay  hold  first  of  his  brothers  (of  whom  only  the  youngest,  in- 
capable yet  of  becoming  a  monk,  was  left  to  console  his  old 
father),  then  his  parents,  his  companions,  and  his  friends,  from 
whom  no  one  had  ever  expected  such  a  step.     .     .     . 

The  number  of  those  who  decided  to  take  upon  themselves 
monastic  vows  increased  and,  as  one  reads  of  the  earliest  sons 
of  the  Church,  "all  the  multitude  of  those  who  believed  were  of 


254  THE   MONASTIC  REFORMATION 

one  mind  and  one  heart"  [Acts  v.  32].  They  lived  together  and 
no  one  else  dared  mingle  with  them.  They  had  at  Chatillon  a 
house  which  they  possessed  in  common  and  in  which  they  held 
meetings,  dwelt  together,  and  held  converse  with  one  another. 

Bernard  and  ^°  one  was  so  ^°^  as  ^°  en^er  **>  unless  he  were 
his  companions  a  member  of  the  congregation.  If  any  one  en- 
tered there,  seeing  and  hearing  what  was  done 
and  said  (as  the  Apostle  declared  of  the  Christians  of  Corinth), 
he  was  convinced  by  their  prophecies  and,  adoring  the  Lord  and 
perceiving  that  God  was  truly  among  them,  he  either  joined  him- 
self to  the  brotherhood  or,  going  away,  wept  at  his  own  plight 
and  their  happy  state.     .     .     . 

At  that  time,  the  young  and  feeble  establishment  at  Citeaux, 
under  the  venerable  abbot  Stephen,1  began  to  be  seriously  weak- 
ened by  its  paucity  of  numbers  and  to  lose  all  hope  of  having 
successors  to  perpetuate  the  heritage  of  holy  poverty,  for  every- 
body revered  the  life  of  these  monks  for  its  sancity  but  held  aloof 
from  it  because  of  its  austerity.  But  the  monastery  was  sud- 
They  enter  denly  visited  and  made  glad  by  the  Lord  in  a 
Citeaux  happy  and  unhoped-for  manner.    In  1113,  fifteen 

years  after  the  foundation  of  the  monastery,  the  servant  of  God, 
Bernard,  then  about  twenty-three  years  of  age,  entered  the 
establishment  under  the  abbot  Stephen,  with  his  companions 
to  the  number  of  more  than  thirty,  and  submitted  himself  to  the 
blessed  yoke  of  Christ.  From  that  day  God  prospered  the  house, 
and  that  vine  of  the  Lord  bore  fruit,  putting  forth  its  branches 
from  sea  to  sea. 

Such  were  the  holy  beginnings  of  the  monastic  life  of  that 
man  of  God.  It  is  impossible  to  any  one  who  has  not  been  im- 
bued as  he  with  the  spirit  of  God  to  recount  the  illustrious  deeds 
of  his  career,  and  his  angelic  conduct,  during  his  life  on  earth. 
He  entered  the  monastery  poor  in  spirit,  still  obscure  and  of  no 

*  Stephen  Harding,  an  Englishman,  succeeded  Alberic  as  abbot  of  Citeaux 
in  1113. 


THE   EARLY  CAREER  OF  ST.    BERNARD  255 

fame,  with  the  intention  of  there  perishing  in  the  heart  and 
memory  of  men,  and  hoping  to  be  forgotten  and  ignored  like  a 
lost  vessel.  But  God  ordered  it  otherwise,  and  prepared  him  as 
a  chosen  vessel,  not  only  to  strengthen  and  extend  the  monastic 
order,  but  also  to  bear  His  name  before  kings  and  peoples  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.     .     .     . 

At  the  time  of  harvest  the  brothers  were  occupied,  with  the 
fervor  and  joy  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  reaping  the  grain.  Since 
he  [Bernard]  was  not  able  to  have  part  in  the  labor,  they  bade 
him  sit  by  them  and  take  his  ease.  Greatly  troubled,  he  had 
Bernard  prays  recourse  to  prayer  and,  with  much  weeping,  im- 
the^rtSuty  to  pl°red  the  Lord  to  grant  him  the  strength  to  be- 
reap  come  a  reaper.    The  simplicity  of  his  faith  did  not 

deceive  him,  for  that  which  he  asked  he  obtained.  Indeed  from 
that  day  he  prided  himself  in  being  more  skilful  than  the  others  at 
that  task;  and  he  was  the  more  given  over  to  devotion  during 
that  labor  because  he  realized  that  the  ability  to  perform  it 
was  a  direct  gift  from  God.  Refreshed  by  his  employments  of 
this  kind,  he  prayed,  read,  or  meditated  continuously.  If  an 
opportunity  for  prayer  in  solitude  offered  itself,  he  seized  it;  but 
in  any  case,  whether  by  himself  or  with  companions,  he  preserved 
a  solitude  in  his  heart,  and  thus  was  everywhere  alone.  He  read 
gladly,  and  always  with  faith  and  thought  fulness,  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  saying  that  they  never  seemed  to  him  so  clear  as 
when  read  in  the  text  alone,  and  he  declared  his  ability  to  dis- 
cern their  truth  and  divine  virtue  much  more  readily  in  the 
His  devotion  source  itself  than  in  the  commentaries  which 
of1  the  Scrip- ge  were  derived  from  it.  Nevertheless,  he  read 
tures  humbly  the  saints  and  orthodox  commentators 

and  made  no  pretense  of  rivaling  their  knowledge;  but,  sub- 
mitting his  to  theirs,  and  tracing  it  faithfully  to  its  sources,  he 
drank  often  at  the  fountain  whence  they  had  drawn.  It  is  thus 
that,  full  of  the  spirit  which  has  divinely  inspired  all  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, he  has  served  God  to  this  day,  as  the  Apostle  says,  with  so 


256  THE  MONASTIC   REFORMATION 

great  confidence,  and  such  ability  to  instruct,  convert,  and  sway. 
And  when  he  preaches  the  word  of  God,  he  renders  so  clear  and 
agreeable  that  which  he  takes  from  Scripture  to  insert  in  his 
discourse,  and  he  has  such  power  to  move  men,  that  everybody, 
both  those  clever  in  worldly  matters  and  those  who  possess 
spiritual  knowledge,  marvel  at  the  eloquent  words  which  fall 
from  his  lips. 

(b) 

Twelve  monks  and  their  abbot,  representing  our  Lord  and  His 
apostles,  were  assembled  in  the  church.  Stephen  placed  a  cross 
in  Bernard's  hands,  who  solemnly,  at  the  head  of  his  small  band, 
walked  forth  from  Citeaux.  .  .  .  Bernard  struck  away  to 
the  northward.  For  a  distance  of  nearly  ninety  miles  he  kept 
this  course,  passing  up  by  the  source  of  the  Seine,  by  Chatillon, 
of  school-day  memories,  until  he  arrived  at  La  Ferte,  about 
„.  ltd  equally  distant  between  Troyes  and  Chaumont, 
for  the  new  in  the  diocese  of  Langres,  and  situated  on  the 
river  Aube.1  About  four  miles  beyond  La  Ferte 
was  a  deep  valley  opening  to  the  east.  Thick  umbrageous  forests 
gave  it  a  character  of  gloom  and  wildness;  but  a  gushing  stream 
of  limpid  water  which  ran  through  it  was  sufficient  to  redeem 
every  disadvantage. 

In  June,  1115,  Bernard  took  up  his  abode  in  the  "Valley  of 

Wormwood/'  as  it  was  called,  and  began  to  look  for  means  of 

shelter  and  sustenance  against  the  approaching  winter.     The 

mi.         ,L-iij     rude  fabric  which  he  and  his  monks  raised  with 
Tne  first  build- 
ing construct-     their  own  hands  was  long  preserved  by  the  pious 

veneration  of  the  Cistercians.  It  consisted  of 
a  building  covered  by  a  single  roof,  under  which  chapel,  dor- 
mitory, and   refectory  were   all   included.      Neither  stone  nor 

1  Chatillon  was  about  twelve  miles  south  of  La  Ferte\  The  latter  was 
fifty  miles  southeast  of  Troyes  and  only  half  as  far  from  Chaumont,  despite 
the  author's  statement  that  it  lay  midway  between  the  two  places.  The 
Aube  is  an  important  tributary  of  the  upper  Seine. 


THE  EARLY  CAREER  OF  ST.  BERNARD         257 

wood  hid  the  bare  earth,  which  served  for  a  floor.  Windows 
scarcely  wider  than  a  man's  head  admitted  a  feeble  light.  In 
this  room  the  monks  took  their  frugal  meals  of  herbs  and  water. 
Immediately  above  the  refectory  was  the  sleeping  apartment. 
It  was  reached  by  a  ladder,  and  was,  in  truth,  a  sort  of  loft. 
Here  were  the  monks'  beds,  which  were  peculiar.  They  were 
made  in  the  form  of  boxes,  or  bins,  of  wooden  planks,  long  and 
wide  enough  for  a  man  to  lie  down  in.  A  small  space,  hewn  out 
with  an  axe,  allowed  room  for  the  sleeper  to  get  in  or  out.  The 
inside  was  strewn  with  chaff,  or  dried  leaves,  which,  with  the 
woodwork,  seem  to  have  been  the  only  covering  permitted.  .  . 
The  monks  had  thus  got  a  house  over  their  heads;  but  they 
had  very  little  else.  They  had  left  Citeaux  in  June.  Their 
journey  had  probably  occupied  them  a  fortnight;  their  clearing, 
preparations,  and  building,  perhaps  two  months;  and  thus  they 
were  near  September  when  this  portion  of  their  labor  was  ac- 
complished. Autumn  and  winter  were  approaching,  and  they 
had  no  store  laid  by.  Their  food  during  the  summer  had  been 
a  compound  of  leaves  intermixed  with  coarse  grain.  Beech- 
nuts and  roots  were  to  be  their  main  support  during  the  winter. 
Hardships  And  now  to  the  privations  of  insufficient  food 

encountered  was  a(jde(j  the  wearing  out  of  their  shoes  and 
clothes.  Their  necessities  grew  with  the  severity  of  the  season, 
until  at  last  even  salt  failed  them;  and  presently  Bernard  heard 
murmurs.  He  argued  and  exhorted;  he  spoke  to  them  of  the 
fear  and  love  of  God,  and  strove  to  rouse  their  drooping  spirits 
by  dwelling  on  the  hopes  of  eternal  life  and  Divine  recompense. 
Their  sufferings  made  them  deaf  and  indifferent  to  their  abbot's 
words.  They  would  not  remain  in  this  valley  of  bitterness;  they 
would  return  to  Citeaux.  Bernard,  seeing  they  had  lost  their 
trust  in  God,  reproved  them  no  more;  but  himself  sought  in 
earnest  prayer  for  release  from  their  difficulties.  Presently  a 
voice  from  heaven  said,  "  Arise,  Bernard,  thy  prayer  is  granted 
thee."    Upon  which  the  monks  said,  "What  didst  thou  ask  of 

Med.  Hist.— 17 


258  THE  MONASTIC  HEFORMATION 

the  Lord?"  "Wait,  and  ye  shall  see,  ye  of  little  faith,"  was  the 
reply;  and  presently  came  a  stranger  who  gave  the  abbot  ten 
livres. 

44.   A  Description  of  Clairvaux 

The  following  is  an  interesting  description  of  the  abbey  of  Clairvaux, 
written  by  William  of  St.  Thierry,  the  friend  and  biographer  of  Bernard. 
After  giving  an  account  of  the  external  appearance  and  surroundings 
of  the  monastery,  the  writer  goes  on  to  portray  the  daily  life  and  devo- 
tion of  the  monks  who  resided  in  it.  In  reading  the  description  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Clairvaux  was  a  new  establishment, 
founded  expressly  to  further  the  work  of  monastic  reform,  and  that 
therefore  at  the  time  when  William  of  St.  Thierry  knew  it,  it  exhibited 
a  state  of  piety  and  industry  considerably  above  that  to  be  found  in 
the  average  abbey  of  the  day. 

Source — Guillaume  de  Saint-Thierry,  Bernardus  Claroevallensis  [William 
of  Saint  Thierry,  "  Life  of  St.  Bernard  "],  Bk.  I.,  Chap.  7.  Trans- 
lated in  Edward  L.  Cutts,  Scenes  and  Characters  of  the  Middle 
Ages  (London,  1872),  pp.  12-14. 

At  the  first  glance  as  you  entered  Clairvaux  by  descending  the 
hill  you  could  see  that  it  was  a  temple  of  God;  and  the  still, 
silent  valley  bespoke,  in  the  modest  simplicity  of  its  buildings, 
the  unfeigned  humility  of  Christ's  poor.  Moreover,  in  this  valley 
full  of  men,  where  no  one  was  permitted  to  be  idle,  where  one 
and  all  were  occupied  with  their  allotted .  tasks,  a  silence  deep 
The  solitude  as  that  of  night  prevailed.  The  sounds  of  labor,  or 
of  Clairvaux  ^e  chants  of  the  brethren  in  the  choral  service, 
were  the  only  exceptions.  The  orderliness  of  this  silence,  and 
the  report  that  went  forth  concerning  it,  struck  such  a  reverence 
even  into  secular  persons  that  they  dreaded  breaking  it, — I  will 
not  say  by  idle  or  wicked  conversation,  but  even  by  proper 
remarks.  The  solitude,  also,  of  the  place — between  dense  forests 
in  a  narrow  gorge  of  neighboring  hills — in  a  certain  sense  recalled 

i  The  famous  founder  of  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino  and  the  com- 
piler of  the  Benedictine  Rule  [see  p.  83]. 


A   DESCRIPTION   OF   CLAIRVAUX  259 

the  cave  of  our  father  St.  Benedict,1  so  that  while  they  strove 
to  imitate  his  life,  they  also  had  some  similarity  to  him  in  their 
habitation  and  loneliness.     .     .     . 

Although  the  monastery  is  situated  in  a  valley,  it  has  its 
foundations  on  the  holy  hills,  whose  gates  the  Lord  loveth  more 
than  all  the  dwellings  of  Jacob.  Glorious  things  are  spoken  of 
it,  because  the  glorious  and  wonderful  God  therein  worketh  great 
marvels.  There  the  insane  recover  their  reason,  and  although 
their  outward  man  is  worn  away,  inwardly  they  are  born  again. 
M  lous  There  the  proud  are  humbled,  the  rich  are  made 
works  accom-  poor,  and  the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to 
them,  and  the  darkness  of  sinners  is  changed 
into  light.  A  large  multitude  of  blessed  poor  from  the  ends  Of 
the  earth  have  there  assembled,  yet  have  they  one  heart  and 
one  mind;  justly,  therefore,  do  all  who  dwell  there  rejoice  with 
no  empty  joy.  They  have  the  certain  hope  of  perennial  joy,  of 
their  ascension  heavenward  already  commenced.  In  Clairvaux, 
they  have  found  Jacob's  ladder,  with  angels  upon  it;  some 
descending,  who  so  provide  for  their  bodies  that  they  faint  not 
on  the  way;  others  ascending,  who  so  rule  their  souls  that  their 
bodies  hereafter  may  be  glorified  with  them. 

For  my  part,  the  more  attentively  I  watch  them  day  by  day, 
the  more  do  I  believe  that  they  are  perfect  followers  of  Christ 
in  all  things.  When  they  pray  and  speak  to  God  in  spirit  and 
in  truth,  by  their  friendly  and  quiet  speech  to  Him,  as  well 
The  piety  of  as  by  their  humbleness  of  demeanor,  they  are 
the  monks  plainly  seen  to  be  God's  companions  and  friends. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  they  openly  praise  God  with  psalms, 
how  pure  and  fervent  are  their  minds,  is  shown  by  their  posture 
of  body  in  holy  fear  and  reverence,  while  by  their  careful  pro- 
nunciation and  modulation  of  the  psalms,  is  shown  how  sweet  to 
their  lips  are  the  words  of  God — sweeter  than  honey  to  their 
mouths.  As  I  watch  them,  therefore,  singing  without  fatigue 
from  before  midnight  to  the  dawn  of  day,  with  only  a  brief  in- 


260  THE    MONASTIC   REFORMATION 

terval,  they  appear  a  little  less  than  the  angels,  but  much  more 
than  men.     .     .     . 

As  regards  their  manual  labor,  so  patiently  and  placidly,  with 
such  quiet  countenances,  in  such  sweet  and  holy  order,  do  they 
perform  all  things,  that  although  they  exercise  themselves  at 
many  works,  they  never  seem  moved  or  burdened  in  anything, 
whatever  the  labor  may  be.  Whence  it  is  manifest  that  that 
Holy  Spirit  worketh  in  them  who  disposeth  of  all  things  with 
sweetness,  in  whom  they  are  refreshed,  so  that  they  rest  even 
Their  manual  m  their  toil.  Many  of  them,  I  hear,  are  bishops 
labor  an(j   eariS)   an(j   many   illustrious   through   their 

birth  or  knowledge;  but  now,  by  God's  grace,  all  distinction  of 
persons  being  dead  among  them,  the  greater  any  one  thought 
himself  in  the  world,  the  more  in  this  flock  does  he  regard  himself 
as  less  than  the  least.  I  see  them  in  the  garden  with  hoes,  in  the 
meadows  with  forks  or  rakes,  in  the  fields  with  scythes,  in  the 
forest  with  axes.  To  judge  from  their  outward  appearance, 
their  tools,  their  bad  and  disordered  clothes,  they  appear  a  race 
of  fools,  without  speech  or  sense.  But  a  true  thought  in  my  mind 
tells  me  that  their  life  in  Christ  is  hidden  in  the  heavens.  Among 
them  I  see  Godfrey  of  Peronne,  Raynald  of  Picardy,  William  of 
St.  Omer,  Walter  of  Lisle,  all  of  whom  I  knew  formerly  in  the 
old  man,  whereof  I  now  see  no  trace,  by  God's  favor.  I  knew 
them  proud  and  puffed  up;  I  see  them  walking  humbly  under 
the  merciful  hand  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  CONFLICT  OVER  INVESTITURE 

45.   Gregory  VII.'s  Conception  of  the  Papal  Authority 

Hildebrand,  who  as  pope  was  known  as  Gregory  VII.,  was  born 
about  the  year  1025  in  the  vicinity  of  the  little  Tuscan  town  of  Soana. 
His  education  was  received  in  the  rich  monastery  of  Saint  Mary  on  the 
Aventine,  of  which  one  of  his  uncles  was  abbot.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  he  became  chaplain  to  Pope  Gregory  VI.,  after  whose  fall  from 
power  he  sought  seclusion  in  the  monastery  at  Cluny.  In  1049,  how- 
ever, he  again  appeared  in  Italy,  this  time  in  the  role  of  companion  to 
the  new  pontiff,  Leo  IX.  In  a  few  years  he  became  sub-deacon  and 
cardinal  and  was  intrusted  with  the  municipal  affairs  and  financial  in- 
terests of  the  Holy  See.  He  served  as  papal  legate  in  France  and  in 
1057  was  sent  to  Germany  to  obtain  the  consent  of  Empress  Agnes  to 
the  hurried  election  of  Stephen  IX.  While  in  these  countries  he  be- 
came convinced  that  the  evil  conditions — simony,  lay  investiture,  and 
non-celibacy  of  the  clergy — which  the  Cluniacs  were  seeking  to  reform 
would  never  be  materially  improved  by  the  temporal  powers,  and  con- 
sequently that  the  only  hope  of  betterment  lay  in  the  establishing  of 
an  absolute  papal  supremacy  before  which  kings,  and  even  emperors, 
should  be  compelled  to  bow  in  submission.  In  April,  1073,  Hildebrand 
himself  was  made  pope,  nominally  by  the  vote  of  the  College  of  Cardi- 
nals, but  really  by  the  enthusiastic  choice  of  the  Roman  populace.  His 
whole  training  and  experience  had  fitted  him  admirably  for  the  place 
and  had  equipped  him  with  the  capacity  to  make  of  his  office  some- 
thing more  than  had  any  of  his  predecessors.  When  he  became  pope 
it  was  with  a  very  lofty  ideal  of  what  the  papacy  should  be,  and  the 
surprising  measure  in  which  he  was  able  to  realize  this  ideal  entitles 
him  without  question  to  be  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  all  mediaeval 
popes. 

261 


262  THE   CONFLICT   OVER   INVESTITURE 

In  the  document  given  below,  the  so-called  Dictatus  Papce,  Pope  Greg- 
ory's conception  of  the  nature  of  the  papal  power  and  its  proper  place 
in  the  world  is  stated  in  the  form  of  a  clear  and  forcible  summary. 
Until  recently  the  Dictatus  was  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Greg- 
ory himself,  but  it  has  been  fairly  well  demonstrated  that  it  was  com- 
posed not  earlier  than  1087  and  was  therefore  the  work  of  some  one  else 
(Gregory  died  in  1085).  It  conforms  very  closely  to  a  collection  of  the 
laws  of  the  Church  published  in  1087  by  a  certain  cardinal  by  the  name 
of  Deusdedit.  The  document  loses  little  or  none  of  its  value  by  reason 
of  this  uncertainty  as  to  its  authorship,  for  it  represents  Pope  Gregory's 
views  as  accurately  as  if  he  were  known  to  have  written  it.  In  judging 
Gregory's  theories  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  (1)  that  it  was  not  personal 
ambition,  but  sincere  conviction,  that  lay  beneath  them;  (2)  that  the 
temporal  states  which  existed  in  western  Europe  in  Gregory's  day  were 
rife  with  feudal  anarchy  and  oppression  and  often  too  weak  to  be  capable 
of  rendering  justice ;  and  (3)  that  Gregory  claimed,  not  that  the  Church 
should  actually  assume  the  management  of  the  civil  government 
throughout  Europe,  but  only  that  in  cases  of  notorious  failure  of  tem- 
poral sovereigns  to  live  right  and  govern  well,  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  papacy  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  either  to  depose 
them  or  to  compel  them  to  mend  their  ways.  It  is  worthy  of  note, 
however,  that  Gregory  was  careful  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  formidable 
political  power  in  Italy,  chiefly  by  availing  himself  of  the  practices  of 
feudalism,  as  seen,  for  example,  in  the  grant  of  southern  Italy  to  the 
Norman  Robert  Guiscard  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  the  Roman  see. 


Source — Text  in  Michael  Doeberl,  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica  Selecta 
(Munchen,  1889),  Vol.  III.,  p.  17. 

1.  That  the  Roman  Church  was  founded  by  God  alone. 

2.  That  the  Roman  bishop  alone  is  properly  called  universal.1 

xThe  incumbent  of  the  papal  office  was  at  the  same  time  bishop  of  Rome, 
temporal  sovereign  of  the  papal  lands,  and  head  of  the  church  universal. 
In  earlier  times  there  was  always  danger  that  the  third  of  these  functions 
be  lost  and  that  the  papacy  revert  to  a  purely  local  institution,  but  by 
Gregory  VII.  's  day  the  universal  headship  was  clearly  recognized  through- 
out the  West  as.  inherent  in  the  office.  It  was  only  when  there  arose  the 
question  as  to  how  far  this  headship  justified  the  Pope  in  attempting  to 
control  the  affairs  of  the  world  that  serious  disagreement  manifested  itself. 


GREGORY  VII.'S  VIEW  OF  THE   PAPAL  AUTHORITY  263 

3.  That  he  alone  has  the  power  to  depose  bishops  and  rein- 
state them. 

4.  That  his  legate,  though  of  inferior  rank,  takes  precedence 
of  all  bishops  in  council,  and  may  give  sentence  of  deposition 
against  them. 

5.  That  the  Pope  has  the  power  to  depose  [bishops]  in  their 
absence.1 

6.  That  we  should  not  even  stay  in  the  same  house  with  those 
who  are  excommunicated  by  him. 

8.  That  he  alone  may  use  the  imperial  insignia.2 

9.  That  the  Pope  is  the  only  person  whose  feet  are  kissed  by 
all  princes. 

11.  That  the  name  which  he  bears  belongs  to  him  alone.3 

12.  That  he  has  the  power  to  depose  emperors.4 

13.  That  he  may,  if  necessity  require,  transfer  bishops  from 
one  see  to  another. 

•     16.   That  no  general  synod  may  be  called  without  his  consent. 

17.  That  no  action  of  a  synod,  and  no  book,  may  be  considered 
canonical  without  his  authority.5 

18.  That  his  decree  can  be  annulled  by  no  one,  and  that  he 
alone  may  annul  the  decrees  of  any  one. 

19.  That  he  can  be  judged  by  no  man. 

20.  That  no  one  shall  dare  to  condemn  a  person  who  appeals 
to  the  apostolic  see. 

22.  That  the  Roman  Church  has  never  erred,  nor  ever,  by 
the  testimony  of  Scripture,  shall  err,  to  all  eternity.6 

1  That  is,  without  giving  them  a  hearing  at  a  later  date. 

2  On  the  basis  of  the  forged  Donation  of  Constantine  the  Pope  claimed 
the  right  here  mentioned.    There  was  no  proper  warrant  for  it. 

3  "This  is  the  first  distinct  assertion  of  the  exclusive  right  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome  to  the  title  of  pope,  once  applied  to  all  bishops."  Robinson, 
Readings  in  European  History,  Vol.  I.,  p.  274.  The  word  pope  is  derived  from 
papa  (father).  It  is  still  used  as  the  common  title  of  all  priests  in  the 
Greek  Church. 

4  This,  with  the  letter  given  on  page  265,  sets  forth  succinctly  the  papacy's 
absolute  claim  of  authority  as  against  the  highest  temporal  power  in  Europe. 

5  That  is,  pronounced  by  the  canons  of  the  Church  to  be  divinely  in- 
spired. 

6  This  is,  of  course,  not  a  claim  of  papal  infallibility.     The  assertion  is 


264  THE   CONFLICT  OVER   INVESTITURE 

26.  That  no  one  can  be  considered  Catholic  who  does  not  agree 
with  the  Roman  Church. 

27.  That  he  [the  Pope]  has  the  power  to  absolve  the  subjects 
of  unjust  rulers  from  their  oath  of  fidelity. 

46.   Letter  of  Gregory  VII.  to  Henry  IV.   (December,  1075) 

The  high  ideal  of  papal  supremacy  over  temporal  sovereigns  which 
Gregory  cherished  when  he  became  pope  in  1073,  and  which  is  set 
forth  so  forcibly  in  the  Dictatus,  was  one  whose  validity  no  king  or 
emperor  could  be  brought  to  recognize.  It  involved  an  attitude  of 
inferiority  and  submissiveness  which  monarchs  felt  to  be  quite  incon- 
sistent with  the  complete  independence  which  they  claimed  in  the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  their  respective  states.  Perhaps  one  may 
say  that  the  theory  in  itself,  as  a  mere  expression  of  religious  sentiment, 
was  not  especially  obnoxious;  many  an  earlier  pope  had  proclaimed  it 
in  substance  without  doing  the  kings  and  emperors  of  Europe  material 
injury.  It  was  the  firm  determination  and  the  aggressive  effort  of 
Gregory  to  reduce  the  theory  to  an  actual  working  system  that  pre- 
cipitated a  conflict. 

The  supreme  test  of  Gregory's  ability  to  make  the  papal  power  felt  in 
the  measure  that  he  thought  it  should  be  came  early  in  the  pontificate  in 
the  famous  breach  with  Henry  IV.  of  Germany.  Henry  at  the  time  was 
not  emperor  in  name,  but  only  "king  of  the  Romans,"  the  imperial 
coronation  not  yet  having  taken  place.1  For  all  practical  purposes, 
however,  he  may  be  regarded  as  occupying  the  emperor's  position,  since 
all  that  was  lacking  was  the  performance  of  a  more  or  less  perfunctory 
ceremony.  Henry's  specific  grievances  against  the  Pope  were  that  the 
latter  had  declared  it  a  sin  for  an  ecclesiastic  to  be  invested  with  his 
office  by  a  layman,  though  this  was  almost  the  universal  practice  in 
Germany,  and  that  he  had  condemned  five  of  the  king's  councilors  for 
simony,2  suspended  the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  the  bishops  of  Speyer 

merely  that  in  the  domain  of  faitli  and  morals  Iho  Roman  church,  judged 
by  Scriptural  principles,  has  never  pursued  a  course  either  improper  or  un- 
warranted. 

1  It  did  not  occur  until  1084.  Henry  had  inherited  the  office  at  the  death 
of  his  father,  Henry  III.,  in  1056. 

2  The  sin  of  simony  comprised  the  employment  of  any  corrupt  means  to 
obtain  appointment  or  election  to  an  ecclesiastical  oflice.     For  the  origin 


LETTER   OF   GREGORY   VII.    TO   HENRY   IV.  265 

and  Strassburg,  and  two  Lombard  bishops,  and  deposed  the  bishop  of 
Florence.  Half  of  the  land  and  wealth  of  Germany  was  in  the  hands 
of  bishops  and  abbots  who,  if  the  Pope  were  to  have  his  way,  would  be 
released  from  all  practical  dependence  upon  the  king  and  so  would  be 
free  to  encourage  and  take  part  in  the  feudal  revolts  which  Henry  was 
exerting  himself  so  vigorously  to  crush.  June  8,  1075,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Unstrutt,  the  king  won  a  signal  victory  over  the  rebellious  feudal 
lords,  after  which  he  felt  strong  enough  to  defy  the  authority  of 
Gregory  with  impunity.  He  therefore  continued  to  associate  with  the 
five  condemned  councilors  and,  in  contempt  of  recent  papal  declara- 
tions against  lay  investiture,  took  it  upon  himself  to  appoint  and  invest 
a  number  of  bishops  and  abbots,  though  always  with  extreme  care  that 
the  right  kind  of  men  be  selected.  Pope  Gregory  was,  of  course,  not 
the  man  to  overlook  such  conduct  and  at  once  made  vigorous  protest. 
The  letter  given  below  was  written  in  December,  1075,  and  is  one  of  a 
considerable  series  which  passed  back  and  forth  across  the  Alps  prior 
.to  the  breaking  of  the  storm  in  1076-1077.  At  this  stage  matters  had 
not  yet  got  beyond  the  possibility  of  compromise  and  reconciliation; 
in  fact  Gregory  writes  as  much  as  anything  else  to  get  the  king's  own 
statement  regarding  the  reports  of  his  conduct  which  had  come  to 
Rome.  The  tone  of  the  letter  is  firm,  it  is  true,  but  conciliatory.  The 
thunder  of  subsequent  epistles  to  the  recreant  Henry  had  not  yet  been 
brought  into  play. 

Source — Text  in  Michael  Doeberl,  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica  Selecta 
(Munchen,  1889),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  18-22.  Adapted  from  translation 
in  Oliver  J.  Thatcher  and  Edgar  H.  McNeal,  Source  Book  for  Medi- 
aeval History  (New  York,  1905),  pp.  147-150. 

Gregory,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  Henry,  the 
king,  greeting  and  apostolic  benediction, — that  is,. if  he  be  obedi- 
ent to  the  apostolic  see  as  is  becoming  in  a  Christian  king: 

It  is  with  some  hesitation  that  we  have  sent  you  our  apostolic 
benediction,  knowing  that  for  all  our  acts  as  pope  we  must 
render  an  account  to  God,  the  severe  judge.  It  is  reported  that 
you  have  willingly  associated  with  men  wrho  have  been  excom- 

of  the  term  see  the  incident  recorded  in  Acts,  viii.  18-24.     The  five  coun- 
cilors had  been  condemned  by  a  synod  at  Rome  in  February,  1075. 


266  THE   CONFLICT  OVER  INVESTITURE 

municated  by  decree  of  the  Pope  and  sentence  of  a  synod.1  If 
this  be  true,  you  are  very  well  aware  that  you  can  receive  the 
blessing  neither  of  God  nor  of  the  Pope  until  you  have  driven 
Henrv  exhort-  ^nem  fror&  you  and  have  compelled  them  to  do 
ed  to  confess  penance,  and  have  also  yourself  sought  absolution 
'  and  forgiveness  for  your  transgressions  with  due 
repentance  and  good  works.  Therefore  we  advise  you  that,  if 
you  realize  your  guilt  in  this  matter,  you  immediately  confess 
to  some  pious  bishop,  who  shall  absolve  you  with  our  permission, 
prescribing  for  you  penance  in  proportion  to  the  fault,  and  who 
shall  faithfully  report  to  us  by  letter,  with  your  permission,  the 
nature  of  the  penance  required. 

We  wonder,  moreover,  that  you  should  continue  to  assure  us 
by  letter  and  messengers  of  your  devotion  and  humility;  that 
you  should  call  yourself  our  son  and  the  son  of  the  holy  mother 
Church,  obedient  in  the  faith,  sincere  in  love,  diligent  in  devo- 
tion; and  that  you  should  commend  yourself  to  us  with  all  zeal 
of  love  and  reverence — whereas  in  fact  you  are  constantly 
disobeying  the  canonical  and  apostolic  decrees  in  important 
matters  of  the  faith.  .  .  .  Since  you  confess  yourself  a  son 
of  the  Church,  you  should  treat  with  more  honor  the  head  of 
the  Church,  that  is,  St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles.  If  you 
are  one  of  the  sheep  of  the  Lord,  you  have  been  entrusted  to 
The  Pope's         n*m  D^  diyme  authority,  for  Christ  said  to  him: 

claim  to  au-  "  Peter,  feed  my  sheep  "  [John,  xxi.  161;  and  again: 
thorityover        „  '  /  f    L         '  J'  f. 

temporal  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  king- 

prmces  dom  of  Heaven;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind 

on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven"  [Matt.,  xvi.  19].  And 
since  we,  although  an  unworthy  sinner,  exercise  his  authority  by 
divine  will,  the  words  which  you  address  to  us  are  in  reality  ad- 
dressed directly  to  him.  And  although  we  read  or  hear  only  the 
words,  he  sees  the  heart  from  which  the  words  proceed.     There- 

i  The  five  condemned  councilors. 


LETTER   OF  GREGORY   Vll.   TO  HENRY  IV.  267 

fore  your  highness  should  be  very  careful  that  no  insincerity  be 
found  in  your  words  and  messages  to  us;  and  that  you  show  due 
reverence,  not  to  us,  indeed,  but  to  omnipotent  God,  in  those 
things  which  especially  make  for  the  advance  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  well-being  of  the  Church.  For  our  Lord  said  to  the 
apostles  and  to  their  successors:  "He  that  heareth  you  heareth 
me,  and  he  that  despiseth  you  despiseth  me"  [Luke,  x.  16]. 
For  no  one  will  disregard  our  admonitions  if  he  believes  that  the 
decrees  of  the  Pope  have  the  same  authority  as  the  words  of  the 
apostle  himself.1     .     .     . 

Now  in  the  synod  held  at  the  apostolic  seat  to  which  the  divine 
will  has  called  us  (at  which  some  of  your  subjects  also  were 
present)  we,  seeing  that  the  Christian  religion  had  been  weak- 
ened by  many  attacks  and  that  the  chief  and  proper  motive, 
that  of  saving  souls,  had  for  a  long  time  been  neglected  and 
slighted,  were  alarmed  at  the  evident  danger  of  the  destruction 
of  the  flock  of  the  Lord,  and  had  recourse  to  the  decrees  and  the 
.,  .     .        doctrine  of  the  holy  fathers.     We  decreed  nothing 

Church  to  be  new,  nothing  of  our  invention;  but  we  decided 
that  the  error  should  be  abandoned  and  the  single 
primitive  rule  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  and  the  familiar  way 
of  the  saints  should  be  again  sought  out  and  followed.2  For  we 
know  that  no  other  door  to  salvation  and  eternal  life  lies  open 
to  the  sheep  of  Christ  than  that  which  was  pointed  out  by  Him 
who  said:  "I  am  the  door:  by  me  if  any  man  enter  in  he  shall  be 
saved,  and  find  pasture"  [John,  x.  9];  and  this,  we  learn  from 
the  gospels  and  from  the  sacred  writings,  was  preached  by  the 
apostles  and  observed  by  the  holy  fathers.  And  we  have  de- 
cided that  this  decree — which  some,  placing  human  above  divine 
honor,   have   called   an  unendurable  weight   and   an   immense 

iThis  portion  of  the  letter  comprises  a  clear  assertion  of  the  "Petrine 
Supremacy,"  i.  e.,  the  theory  that  Peter,  as  the  first  bishop  of  Rome,  trans- 
mitted his  superiority  over  all  other  bishops  to  his  successors  in  the  Roman 
see,  who  in  due  time  came  to  constitute  the  line  of  popes  [see  p.  78]. 

2  This  refers  to  a  decree  of  a  Roman  synod  in  1074  against  simony  and 
the  marriage  of  the  clergy. 


268  THE   CONFLICT  OVER  INVESTITURE 

burden,  but  which  we  call  by  its  proper  name,  that  is,  the  truth 
and  light  necessary  to  salvation — is  to  be  received  and  observed 
not  only  by  you  and  your  subjects,  but  also  by  all  princes  and 
peoples  of  the  earth  who  confess  and  worship  Christ;  for  it  is 
greatly  desired  by  us,  and  would  be  most  fitting  to  you,  that 
as  you  are  greater  than  others  in  glory,  in  honor,  and  in  virtue, 
so  you  should  be  more  distinguished  in  devotion  to  Christ. 

Nevertheless,  that  this  decree  may  not  seem  to  you  beyond 
measure  grievous  and  unjust,  we  have  commanded  you  by  your 
faithful  ambassadors  to  send  to  us  the  wisest  and  most  pious  men 
whom  you  can  find  in  your  kingdom,  so  that  if  they  can  show 
or  instruct  us  in  any  way  how  we  can  temper  the  sentence 
G  di         promulgated  by  the  holy  fathers  without  offense 

posed  to  treat  to  the  eternal  King  or  danger  to  our  souls,  we 
may  consider  their  advice.  But,  even  if  we  had 
not  warned  you  in  so  friendly  a  manner,  it  would  have  been  only 
right  on  your  part,  before  you  violated  the  apostolic  decrees,  to 
ask  justice  of  us  in  a  reasonable  manner  in  any  matter  in  which 
we  had  injured  or  affected  your  honor.  But  from  what  you 
have  since  done  and  decreed  it  is  evident  how  little  you  care 
for  our  warnings,  or  for  the  observance  of  justice. 

But  since  we  hope  that,  while  the  long-suffering  patience  of 
God  still  invites  you  to  repent,  you  may  become  wiser  and  your 
heart  may  be  turned  to  obey  the  commands  of  God,  we  warn 
you  with  fatherly  love  that,  knowing  the  rule  of  Christ  to  be 
over  you,  you  should  consider  how  dangerous  it  is  to  place  your 
honor  above  His,  and  that  you  should  not  interfere  with  the 
liberty  of  the  Church  which  He  has  deigned  to  join  to  Himself 
by  heavenly  union,  but  rather  with  faithful  devotion  you  should 
offer  your  assistance  to  the  increasing  of  this  liberty  to  omnipo- 
tent God  and  St.  Peter,  through  whom  also  your  glory  may  be 
enhanced.  You  ought  to  recognize  what  you  undoubtedly  owe 
to  them  for  giving  you  victory  over  your  enemies,1  that  as  they 

1  In  the  battle  on  the  Unstrutt,  June  8,  1075. 


HENRY   IV.'s   REPLY   TO   GREGORY'S   LETTER  269 

have  gladdened  you  with  great  prosperity,  so  they  should  see 
that  you  are  thereby  rendered  more  devout.  And  in  order  that 
Henry's  obli-      the  fear  of  God,  in  whose  hands  is  all  power  and 

and  obey  the™  a11  mle>  may  affect  y°ur  heart  more  than  these 
papacy  our  warnings,  you  should  recall  what  happened 

to  Saul,  when,  after  winning  the  victory  which  he  gained  by 

the  will  of  the  prophet,  he  glorified  himself  in  his  triumph  and 

did  not  obey  the  warnings  of  the  prophet,  and  how  God  reproved 

him;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  what  grace  King  David  acquired 

by  reason  of  his  humility,  as  well  as  his  other  virtues. 


47.   Henry  IV.'s  Reply  to  Gregory's  Letter  (January,  1076) 

In  1059,  when  Nicholas  II.  was  pope  and  Hildebrand  was  yet  only  a 
cardinal,  a  council  assembled  at  the  Lateran  decreed  that  henceforth 
the  right  of  electing  the  sovereign  pontiff  should  be  vested  exclusively 
in  the  college  of  cardinals,  or  in  other  words,  in  seven  cardinal  bishops 
in  the  vicinity  of  Rome  and  a  certain  number  of  cardinal  priests  and 
deacons  attached  to  the  parishes  of  the  city.  The  people  and  clergy 
generally  were  deprived  of  participation  in  the  election,  except  so  far 
as  merely  to  give  their  consent.  Hildebrand  se.ems  to  have  been  the 
real  author  of  the  decree.  Nevertheless,  in  1073,  when  he  was  elevated 
to  the  papal  chair,  the  decree  of  1059  was  in  a  measure  ignored,  for  he 
was  elected  by  popular  vote  and  his  choice  was  only  passively  sanc- 
tioned by  the  cardinals.  When,  therefore,  the  quarrel  between  him  and 
Henry  IV.  came  on,  the  latter  was  not  slow  to  make  use  of  the  weapon 
which  Hildebrand's  (or  Gregory's)  uncanonical  election  placed  in  his 
hands.  In  replying,  January  24,  1076,  to  the  papal  letter  of  Decem- 
ber, 1075,  he  bluntly  addresses  himself  to  "  Hildebrand,  not  pope,  but 
false  monk,"  and  writes  a  stinging  epistle  in  the  tone  thus  assumed 
in  his  salutation.  In  his  arraignment  of  Gregory  the  king  doubtless 
went  far  beyond  the  truth;  but  the  fact  remains  that  Gregory's  dominat- 
ing purposes  in  the  interest  of  the  papal  authority  threatened  to  cut 
deeply  into  the  independence  of  all  temporal  sovereigns,  and  therefore 
rendered  such  resistance  as  Henry  offered  quite  inevitable.  In  the  in- 
terim between  receiving  the  Pope's  letter  and  dispatching  his  repty 


270  THE    CONFLICT   OVER   INVESTITURE 

Henry  had  convened  at  Worms  a  council  of  the  German  clergy,  and 
this  body  had  decreed  that  Gregory,  having  wrongfully  ascended  the 
papal  throne,  should  be  compelled  forthwith  to  abdicate  it. 

Source — Text  in  Michael  Doeberl,  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica  Selecta 
(Miinchen,  1889),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  24-25.  Translated  in  Oliver  J. 
Thatcher  and  Edgar  H.  McNeal,  Source  Book  for  Medicevai  History 
(New  York,  1905),  pp.  151-152. 

Henry,  king  not  by  usurpation,  but  by  the  holy  ordination 
of  God,  to  Hildebrand,  not  pope,  but  false  monk. 

This  is  the  salutation  which  you  deserve,  for  you  have  never 
held  any  office  in  the  Church  without  making  it  a  source  of  con- 
fusion and  a  curse  to  Christian  men,  instead  of  an  honor  and  a 
blessing.  To  mention  only  the  most  obvious  cases  out  of  many, 
you  have  not  only  dared  to  lay  hands  on  the  Lord's  anointed, 
the  archbishops,  bishops,  and  priests,  but  you  have  scorned 
Gregory  de-  them  and  abused  them,  as  if  they  were  ignorant 
only  a  dema-  servants  not  fit  to  know  what  their  master  was 
gogue  doing.     This  you  have  done  to  gain  favor  with 

the  vulgar  crowd.  You  have  declared  that  the  bishops  know 
nothing  and  that  you  know  everything;  but  if  you  have  such 
great  wisdom  you  have  used  it  not  to  build  but  to  destroy. 
Therefore  we  believe  that  St.  Gregory,  whose  name  you  have 
presumed  to  take,  had  you  in  mind  when  he  said:  "The  heart  of 
the  prelate  is  puffed  up  by  the  abundance  of  subjects,  and  he 
thinks  himself  more  powerful  than  all  others."  All  this  we  have 
endured  because  of  our  respect  for  the  papal  office,  but  you  have 
mistaken  our  humility  for  fear,  and  have  dared  to  make  an 
attack  upon  the  royal  and  imperial  authority  which  we  received 
The  papal  from  God.    You  have  even  threatened  to  take  it 

para?  sunrem-  away>  as  ^  we  na^  received  it  from  you,  and  as  if 
acy  rejected  the  Empire  and  kingdom  were  in  your  disposal 
and  not  in  the  disposal  of  God.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has 
called  us  to  the  government  of  the  Empire,  but  He  never 
called  you  to  the  rule  of  the  Church.      This  is  the  way  you 


HENRY   IV.'S  REPLY   TO  GREGORY'S   LETTER  271 

have  gained  advancement  in  the  Church :  through  craft  you  have 
obtained  wealth;  through  wealth  you  have  obtained  favor; 
through  favor,  the  power  of  the  sword;  and  through  the  power 
of  the  sword,  the  papal  seat,  which  is  the  seat  of  peace;  and  then 
from  the  seat  of  peace  you  have  expelled  peace.  For  you  have 
incited  subjects  to  rebel  against  their  prelates  by  teaching  them 
to  despise  the  bishops,  their  rightful  rulers.  You  have  given  to 
laymen  the  authority  over  priests,  whereby  they  condemn  and 
depose  those  whom  the  bishops  have  put  over  them  to  teach 
them.  You  have  attacked  me,  who,  unworthy  as  I  am,  have 
yet  been  anointed  to  rule  among  the  anointed  of  God,  and  who, 
according  to  the  teaching  of  the  fathers,  can  be  judged  by  no 
one  save  God  alone,  and  can  be  deposed  for  no  crime  except 
infidelity.  For  the  holy  fathers  in  the  time  of  the  apostate 
Julian  x  did  not  presume  to  pronounce  sentence  of  deposition 
against  him,  but  left  him  to  be  judged  and  condemned  by  God. 
Henrv  ^'   -^e*er  himself  said,   "Fear  God,   honor  the 

also  cites  king"  [1  Pet.,  ii.  17].     But  you,  who  fear  not  God, 

have  dishonored  me,  whom  He  hath  established. 
St.  Paul,  who  said  that  even  an  angel  from  heaven  should  be 
accursed  who  taught  any  other  than  the  true  doctrine,  did  not 
make  an  exception  in  your  favor,  to  permit  you  to  teach  false 
doctrines.  For  he  says,  "But  though  we,  or  an  angel  from 
heaven,  preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you  than  that  which  we 
have  preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed"  [Gal.,  i.  8].  Come 
down,  then,  from  that  apostolic  seat  which  you  have  obtained 
by  violence;  for  you  have  been  declared  accursed  by  St.  Paul 
for  your  false  doctrines,  and  have  been  condemned  by  us  and 
our  bishops  for  your  evil  rule.  Let  another  ascend  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter,  one  who  will  not  use  religion  as  a  cloak  of  violence, 
but  will  teach  the  life-giving  doctrine  of  that  prince  of  the 

i  Julian  succeeded  Constantine's  son  Constantius  as  head  of  the  Roman 
Empire  in  361.  He  was  known  as  "the  Apostate"  because  of  his  efforts  to 
displace  the  Christian  religion  and  to  restore  the  old  pagan  worship.  He 
died  in  battle  with  the  Persians  in  363. 


272  THE  CONFLICT  OVER   INVESTITURE 

apostles.  I,  Henry,  king  by  the  grace  of  God,  with  all  my 
bishops,  say  unto  you:  "Come  down,  come  down,  and  be  ac- 
cursed through  all  the  ages." 

48.   Henry  IV.   Deposed  by  Pope   Gregory   (1076) 

The  foregoing  letter  of  Henry  IV.  was  received  at  Rome  with  a  storm 
of  disapproval  and  the  envoys  who  bore  it  barely  escaped  with  their 
lives.  A  council  of  French  and  Italian  bishops  was  convened  in  the  Lat- 
eran  (Feb.  24,  1076),  and  the  king's  haughty  epistle,  together  with  the 
decree  of  the  council  at  Worms  deposing  Gregory,  were  read  and  allowed 
to  have  their  effect.  With  the  assent  of  the  bishops,  the  Pope  pro- 
nounced the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  Henry  and  formally 
released  all  the  latter's  Christian  subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance. 
Naturally  the  action  of  Gregory  aroused  intense  interest  throughout 
Europe.  In  Germany  it  had  the  intended  effect  of  detaching  many 
influential  bishops  and  abbots  from  the  imperial  cause  and  stir- 
ring the  political  enemies  of  the  king  to  renewed  activity.  The  papal 
ban  became  a  pretext  for  the  renewal  of  the  hostility  on  part  of 
his  dissatisfied  subjects  which  Henry  had  but  just  succeeded  in 
suppressing. 

In  the  first  part  of  the  papal  decree  Gregory  seeks  to  defend  himself 
against  the  charges  brought  by  Henry  and  the  German  clergy  to  the 
effect  that  he  had  mounted  the  papal  throne  through  personal  ambi- 
bition  and  the  employment  of  unbecoming  means.  It  was  indisput- 
able that  his  election  had  not  been  strictly  in  accord  with  the  decree 
of  1059,  but  it  seems  equally  true  that,  as  Gregory  declares,  he  was 
placed  at  the  helm  of  the  Church  contrary  to  his  personal  desires. 

Source — Text  in  Michael  Doeberl,  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica  Selecta 
(Miinchen,  1889) ,  Vol.  III. ,  p.  26.  Translated  in  Oliver  J.  Thatcher 
and  Edgar  H.  McNeal,  Source  Book  for  Mediaeval  History  (New 
York,  1905),  pp.  155-156. 

St.  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles,  incline  thine  ear  unto  me, 
I  beseech  thee,  and  hear  me,  thy  servant,  whom  thou  hast 
nourished  from  mine  infancy  and  hast  delivered  from  mine 
enemies  that  hate  me  for  my  fidelity  to  thee.    Thou  art  my  wit- 


THE   PENANCE   OP  HENRY  IV.   AT   CANOSSA  £73 

ness,  as  are  also  my  mistress,  the  mother  of  God,  and  St.  Paul 
thy  brother,  and  all  the  other-saints,  that  the  Holy  Roman  Church 
Gregory  denies  called  me  to  its  government  against  my  own  will, 
sought  £•*  an(*  that  I  did  not  gain  thy  throne  by  violence; 
papal  office  that  I  would  rather  have  ended  my  days  in  exile 
than  have  obtained  thy  place  by  fraud  or  for  worldly  ambition. 
It  is  not  by  my  efforts,  but  by  thy  grace,  that  I  am  set  to  rule 
over  the  Christian  world  which  was  especially  intrusted  to  thee 
by  Christ.  It  is  by  thy  grace,  and  as  thy  representative  that 
God  has  given  to  me  the  power  to  bind  and  to  loose  in  heaven 
and  in  earth.  Confident  of  my  integrity  and  authority,  I  now 
declare  in  the  name  of  the  omnipotent  God,  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit,  that  Henry,  son  of  the  Emperor  Henry,1  is 
Henrv  deprived  of  his  kingdom  of  Germany  and  Italy. 

deposed  by  I  do  this  by  thy  authority  and  in  defense  of  the 
honor  of  thy  Church,  because  he  has  rebelled 
against  it.  He  who  attempts  to  destroy  the  honor  of  the  Church 
should  be  deprived  of  such  honor  as  he  may  have  held.  He  has 
refused  to  obey  as  a  Christian  should;  he  has  not  returned  to 
God  from  whom  he  had  wandered;  he  has  had  dealings  with 
excommunicated  persons;  he  has  done  many  iniquities;  he  has 
despised  the  warnings  which,  as  thou  art  witness,  I  sent  to  him 
for  his  salvation;  he  has  cut  himself  off  from  thy  Church,  and 
has  attempted  to  rend  it  asunder;  therefore,  by  thy  authority, 
I  place  him  under  the  curse.  It  is  in  thy  name  that  I  curse  him, 
that  all  people  may  know  that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  thy 
rock  the  Son  of  the  living  God  has  built  his  Church,  and  the 
gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it. 

49.    The  Penance  of  Henry  IV.  at  Canossa   (1077) 

In  his  contest  with  the  Pope,  Henry's  chances  of  winning  were  from 
the  outset  diminished  by  the  readiness  of  his  subjects  to  take  advantage 
of  his  misfortunes  to  recover  political  privileges  they  had  lost  under  his 
i  Henry  III.,  emperor  from  1039  to  1056. 
Med.  Hist.— 18 


274  THE   CONFLICT  OVER   INVESTITURE 

vigorous  rule.  In  October,  1076,  the  leading  German  nobles,  lay  and 
clerical,  encouraged  by  the  papal  decree  of  the  preceding  February, 
assembled  at  Tribur,  near  Mainz,  and  proceeded  to  formulate  a  plan 
of  action.  Henry,  with  the  few  followers  who  remained  faithful,  awaited 
the  result  at  Oppenheim,  just  across  the  Rhine.  The  magnates  at  last 
agreed  that  unless  Henry  could  secure  the  removal  of  the  papal  ban 
within  a  year  he  should  be  deppsed  from  the  throne.  By  the  Oppen- 
heim Convention  he  was  forced  to  promise  to  revoke  his  sentence  of 
deposition  against  Gregory  and  to  offer  him  his  allegiance.  The  promise 
was  executed  in  a  royal  edict  of  the  same  month.  Seeing  that  there 
remained  no  hope  in  further  resistance,  and  hearing  that  Gregory  was 
about  to  present  himself  in  Germany  to  compel  a  final  adjustment  of 
the  affair,  Henry  fled  from  Speyer,  where  he  had  been  instructed  by 
the  nobles  to  remain,  and  by  a  most  arduous  winter  journey  over  the 
Alps  arrived  at  last  at  the  castle  of  Canossa,  in  Tuscany,1  where  the 
Pope,  on  his  way  to  Germany,  was  being  entertained  by  one  of  his 
allies,  the  Countess  Matilda.  Gregory  might  indeed  already  have  been 
on  the  Rhine  but  that  he  had  heard  of  the  move  Henry  ..was  making  and 
feared  that  he  was  proposing  to  stir  up  revolt  in  the  papal  dominions. 
The  king  was  submissive,  apparently  conquered ;  yet  Gregory  was  loath 
to  end  the  conflict  at  this  point.  He  had  hoped  to  establish  a  precedent 
by  entering  German  territory  and  there  disposing  of  the  crown  accord- 
ing to  his  own  will.  But  it  was  a  cardinal  rule  of  the  Church  that  a 
penitent  sincerely  seeking  absolution  could  not  be  denied,  and  in  his 
request  Henry  was  certainly  importunate  enough  to  give  every  appear- 
ance of  sincerity.  Accordingly,  the  result  of  the  meeting  of  king  [Em- 
peror] and  Pope  at  Canossa  was  that  the  ban  of  excommunication  was 
revoked  by  the  latter,  while  the  former  took  an  oath  fully  acknowl- 
edging the  papal  claims. 

Inasmuch  as  he  had  saved  his  crown  and  frustrated  the  design  of 
Gregory  to  cross  the  mountains  into  Germany,  Henry  may  be  said 
to  have  won  a  temporary  advantage ;  and  this  was  followed  within  a 
few  years,  when  the  struggle  broke  out  again,  by  the  practical  expulsion 
of  Gregory  from  Rome  and  his  death  in  broken-hearted  exile  (1085). 

1  The  castle  of  Canossa  stood  on  one  of  the  northern  spurs  of  the  Apen- 
nines, about  ten  miles  southwest  of  Reggio.  Some  remains  of  it  may  yet 
be  seen. 


THE  PENANCE  OF  HENRY  IV.  AT  CANOSSA       275 

Nevertheless  the  moral  effect  of  the  Canossa  episode,  and  of  the  events 
which  followed,  in  the  long  run  operated  decidedly  against  the  king's 
position  and  the  whole  imperial  theory.  The  document  below  is  a 
letter  of  Gregory  to  the  German  magnates  giving  an  account  of  the 
submission  of  the  king  at  Canossa,  and  including  the  text  of  the  oath 
which  he  there  took. 


Source — Text  in  Michael  Doeberl,  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica  Selecta 
(Munchen,  1889),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  33-34.  Adapted  from  translation 
in  Ernest  F.  Henderson,  Select  Historical  Documents  of  the  Middle 
Ages  (London,  1896),  pp.  385-388. 

Gregory,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  all  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  dukes,  counts,  and  other  princes  of  the 
realm  of  the  Germans  who  defend  the  Christian  faith,  greeting 
and  apostolic  benediction. 

Inasmuch  as  for  love  of  justice  you  assumed  common  cause 
and  danger  with  us  in  the  struggle  of  Christian  warfare,  we  have 
taken  care  to'inform  you,  beloved,  with  sincere  affection,  how 
the  king,  humbled  to  penance,  obtained  the  pardon  of  absolution 
and  how  the  whole  affair  has  progressed  from  his  entrance  into 
Italy  to  the  present  time. 

As  had  been  agreed  with  the  legates  who  had  been  sent  to  us 
on  your  part,1  we  came  into  Lombardy  about  twenty  days  before 
the  date  on  which  one  of  the  commanders  was  to  come  over  the 
a  ,  pass  to  meet  us,   awaiting  his  advent  that  we 

advance  into  might  cross  over  to  the  other  side.  But  when  the 
period  fixed  upon  had  already  passed,  and  we 
were  told  that  at  this  time  on  account  of  many  difficulties — 
as  we  can  readily  believe — an  escort  could  not  be  sent  to  meet 
us,  we  were  involved  in  no  little  perplexity  as  to  what  would 
be  best  for  us  to  do,  having  no  other  means  of  coming  to  you. 

1  The  German  princes  who  were  hostile  to  Henry  had  kept  in  close  touch 
with  the  Pope.  In  the  Council  of  Tribur  a  legate  of  Gregory  took  the  most 
prominent  part,  and  the  members  of  that  body  had  invited  the  Pope  to 
come  to  Augsburg  and  aid  in  the  settling  of  Henry's  crown  upon  a  suc- 
cessor. 


276  THE   CONFLICT   OVER   INVESTITURE 

Meanwhile,  however,  we  learned  that  the  king  was  approach- 
ing. He  also,  before  entering  Italy,  sent  to  us  suppliant  legates, 
offering  in  all  things  to  render  satisfaction  to  God,  to  St.  Peter, 
and  to  us.  And  he  renewed  his  promise  that,  besides  amending 
his  way  of  living,  he  would  observe  all  obedience  if  only  he  might 
deserve  to  obtain  from  us  the  favor  of  absolution  and  the  apos- 
tolic benediction.  When,  after  long  postponing  a  decision  and 
holding  frequent  consultations,  we,  through  all  the  envoys  who 
Henry  at  passed,  had  severely  taken  him  to  task  for  his 

Canossa  excesses,  he  came  at  length  of  his  own  accord, 

with  a  few  followers,  showing  nothing  of  hostility  or  boldness, 
to  the  town  of  Canossa  where  we  were  tarrying.  And  there, 
having  laid  aside  all  the  belongings  of  royalty,  wretchedly,  with 
bare  feet  and  clad  in  wool,  he  continued  for  three  days  to  stand 
before  the  gate  of  the  castle.  Nor  did  he  desist  from  imploring 
with  many  tears,  the  aid  and  consolation  of  the  apostolic  mercy 
until  he  had  moved  all  of  those  who  were  present  there,  and 
whom  the  report  of  it  reached,  to  such  pity  and  depth  of  com- 
passion that,  interceding  for  him  with  many  prayers  and  tears, 
all  wondered  indeed  at  the  unaccustomed  hardness  of  our  heart, 
while  some  actually  cried  out  that  we  were  exercising,  not  the 
dignity  of  apostolic  severity,  but  the  cruelty,  as  it  were,  of  a 
tyrannical  madness. 

Finally,  won  by  the  persistency  of  his  suit  and  by  the  con- 
stant supplications  of  all  who  were  present,  we  loosed  the  chain 
of  the  anathema  1  and  at  length  received  him  into  the  favor  of 
communion  and  into  the  lap  of  the  holy  mother  Church,  those 
being  accepted  as  sponsors  for  him  whose  names  are  written 
below. 

Having  thus  accomplished  these  matters,  we  desire  at  the  first 
opportunity  to  cross  over  to  your  country  in  order  that,  by 
God's  aid,  we  may  more  fully  arrange  all  things  for  the  peace 

1  Revoked  the  ban  of  excommunication.  The  anathema  was  a  solemn 
curse  by  an  ecclesiastical  authority. 


THE  PENANCE  OF  HENRY  IV.  AT  CANOSSA       277 

of  the  Church  and  the  concord  of  the  kingdom,  as  has  long 
been  our  wish.  For  we  desire,  beloved,  that  you  should  know 
Gree-orv's  Dur-  kevond  a  doubt  that  the  whole  question  at  issue 
pose  to  visit  is  as  yet  so  little  cleared  up — as  you  can  learn 
from  the  sponsors  mentioned — that  both  our 
coming  and  the  concurrence  of  your  counsels  are  extremely 
necessary.  Wherefore  strive  ye  all  to  continue  in  the  faith  in- 
which  you  have  begun  and  in  the  love  of  justice;  and  know  that 
we  are  not  otherwise  committed  to  the  king  save  that,  by  word 
alone,  as  is  our  custom,  we  have  said  that  he  might  have  hopes 
from  us  in  those  matters  in  which,  without  danger  to  his  soul 
or  to  our  own,  we  might  be  able  to  help  him  to  his  salvation  and 
honor,  either  through  justice  or  through  mercy. 


Oath  of  King  Henry 

I,  King  Henry,  on  account  of  the  murmuring  and  enmity 
which  the  archbishops  and  bishops,  dukes,  counts  and  other 
princes  of  the  realm  of  the  Germans,  and  others  who  follow  them 
in  the  same  matter  of  dissension,  bring  to  bear  against  me,  will, 
within  the  term  which  our  master  Pope  Gregory  has  constituted, 
either  do  justice  according  to  his  judgment  or  conclude  peace 
according  to  his  counsels — unless  an  absolute  impediment  should 
stand  in  his  way  or  in  mine.  And  on  the  removal  of  this  impedi- 
ment I  shall  be  ready  to  continue  in  the  same  course.  Likewise, 
if  that  same  lord  Pope  Gregory  shall  wish  to  go  beyond  the 
mountains  [i.e.,  into  Germany],  or  to  any  other  part  of  the 
world,  he  himself,  as  well  as  those  who  shall  be  in  his  escort  or 
following,  or  who  are  sent  by  him,  or  come  to  him  from  any  parts 
of  the  world  whatever,  shall  be  secure  while  going,  remaining, 
or  returning,  on  my  part,  and  on  the  part  of  those  whom  I  can 
constrain,  from  every  injury  to  life  or  limb,  or  from  capture. 
Nor  shall  he,  by  my  consent,  meet  any  other  hindrance  that  is 
contrary  to  his  dignity;  and  if  any  such  be  placed  in  his  way  I 


278  THE   CONFLICT   OVER   INVESTITURE 

will  aid  him  according  to  my  ability.     So  help  me  God  and  this 
holy  gospel. 

50.   The  Concordat  of  Worms  (1122) 

The  veteran  Emperor  Henry  IV.  died  at  Liege  in  1106  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Henry  V.  The  younger  Henry  had  some  months  be- 
fore been  prompted  by  Pope  Paschal  II.  to  rebel  against  his  father  and, 
succeeding  in  this,  had  practically  established  himself  on  the  throne 
before  his  legitimate  time.  Pope  Paschal  expected  the  son  to  be  more 
submissive  than  the  father  had  been  and  in  1106  issued  a  decree  re- 
newing the  prohibition  of  lay  investiture.  Outside  of  Germany  this 
evil  had  been  brought  almost  to  an  end  and,  now  that  the  vigorous 
Henry  IV.  was  out  of  the  way,  the  Pope  felt  that  the  time  had  come  to 
make  the  reform  complete  throughout  Christendom.  But  in  this  he 
was  mistaken,  for  Henry  V.  proved  almost  as  able  and  fully  as  deter- 
mined a  power  to  contend  with  as  had  been  his  father.  In  fact,  the  new 
monarch  could  command  a  much  stronger  army,  and  he  was  in  no  wise 
loath  to  use  it.  In  1110  he  led  a  host  of  thirty  thousand  men  across 
the  Alps,  compelled  the  submission  of  the  north  Italian  towns,  and 
marched  on  Rome.  The  outcome  was  a  secret  compact  (February  4, 
1111)  by  which  the  king,  on  the  one  hand,  was  to  abandon  all  claim  to  the 
right  of  investiture  and  the  Pope,  on  the  other,  was  to  see  that  the  eccle- 
siastical princes  of  the  Empire  (bishops  and  abbots  holding  large  tracts 
of  land)  should  give  up  all  the  lands  which  they  had  received  by  royal 
grant  since  the  days  of  Charlemagne.  The  abandonment  of  investiture 
looked  like  a  surrender  on  the  part  of  Henry,  but  in  reality  all  that  he 
wanted  was  direct  control  over  all  the  lands  of  the  Empire,  and  if  the 
ecclesiastical  princes  were  to  be  dispossessed  of  these  he  cared  little  or 
nothing  about  having  a  part  in  the  mere  religious  ceremony.  This 
settlement  was  rendered  impossible,  however,  by  the  attitude  of  the 
princes  themselves,  who  naturally  refused  to  be  thus  deprived  of  their 
landed  property  and  chief  source  of  income.  The  Pope  was  then  forced 
to  make  a  second  compact  surrendering  the  full  right  of  investiture  to 
the  imperial  authority,  and  Henry  also  got  the  coveted  imperial  corona- 
tion. But  his  triumph  was  short-lived.  Rebellions  among  the  German 
nobles  robbed  him  of  his  strength  and  after  years  of  wearisome  bicker- 


THE   CONCORDAT   OF   WORMS  279 

ings  and  petty  conflicts  he  again  came  to  the  point  where  he  was  willing 
to  compromise.  Calixtus  II.,  who  became  pope  in  1119,  was  similarly 
inclined. 

Accordingly,  in  a  diet  at  Worms,  in  1122,  the  whole  problem 
was  taken  up  for  settlement,  and  happily  this  time  with  success.  The 
documents  translated  below  contain  the  concessions  made  mutually  by 
the  two  parties.  Calixtus,  in  brief,  grants  that  the  elections  of  bishops 
and  abbots  may  take  place  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor,  or  of  his 
agents,  and  that  the  Emperor  should  have  the  right  to  invest  them  with 
the  scepter,  i.e.,  with  their  dignity  as  princes  of  the  Empire.  Henry, 
on  his  side,  agrees  to  give  up  investiture  with  the  ring  and  staff,  i.e., 
with  spiritual  functions,  to  allow  free  elections,  and  to  aid  in  the 
restoration  of  church  property  which  had  been  confiscated  during  the 
long  struggle  now  drawing  to  a  close.  The  settlement  was  in  the  nature 
of  a  compromise;  but  on  the  whole  the  papacy  came  off  the  better. 
In  its  largest  aspects  the  great  fifty-year  struggle  over  the  question 
of  investiture  was  ended,  though  minor  features  of  it  remained  to  trouble 
all  parties  concerned  for  a  long  lime  to  come. 


Sources — (a)  Text  in  Monumenta    Germanics  Historica,  Leges  (Pertz  ed.), 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  75-76. 

(b)  Text  in    Michael   Doeberl,  Monumenta  Germanics  Historica 
Selecta,  Vol.  III.,  p.  60. 

(a) 
I,  Bishop  Calixtus,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  do  grant 
to  thee,  by  the  grace  of  God  august  Emperor  of  the  Romans,  the 
right  to  hold  the  elections  of  the  bishops  and  abbots  of  the 
German  realm  who  belong  to  the  kingdom,  in  thy  presence,  with- 
The  provision  out  simony,  and  without  any  resort  to  violence; 
for  elections  ^  foemg  agreed  that,  if  any  dispute  arise  among 
those  concerned,  thou,  by  the  counsel  and  judgment  of  the 
metropolitan  [i.e.,  the  archbishop]  and  the  suffragan  bishops, 
shalt  extend  favor  and  support  to  .the  party  which  shall  seem 
to  you  to  have  the  better  case.  Moreover,  the  person  elected 
may  receive  from  thee  the  regalia  through  the  scepter,  without 


280  THE   CONFLICT   OVER  INVESTITURE 

any  exaction  being  levied; 1  and  he  shall  discharge  his  rightful 
obligations' to  thee  for  them.2 

He  who  is  consecrated  in  other  parts  of  the  Empire 3  shall 
receive  the  regalia  from  thee  through  the  scepter,  within  six 
months,  and  without  any  exaction,  and  shall  discharge  his 
Investiture  rightful  obligations  to  thee  for  them;  those  rights 
with  the  being  excepted,   however,  which  are  known  to 

belong  to  the  Roman  Church.  In  whatever  cases 
thou  shalt  make  complaint  to  me  and  ask  my  aid  I  will  sup- 
port thee  according  as  my  office  requires.  To -thee,  and  to  all 
those  who  are  on  thy  side,  or  have  been,  in  this  period  of  strife, 
I  grant  a  true  peace. 

(b) 
In  the  name  of  the  holy  and  indivisible  Trinity,  I,  Henry,  by 
the  grace  of  God  august  Emperor  of  the  Romans,  for  the  love 
of  God  and  of  the  holy  Roman  Church  and  of  our  lord  Pope 
Calixtus,  and  for  the  saving  of  my  soul,  do  give  over  to  God, 
Investiture  anc*  ^°  ^e  h°lv  apostles  of  God,  Peter  and  Paul, 
with  ring  and   the   holy   Catholic    Church,   all   investiture 

through  ring  and  staff;  and  do  concede  that  in 
all  the  churches  that  are  in  my  kingdom  or  empire  there  shall 
be  canonical  election  and  free  consecration. 

All  the  property  and  regalia  of  St.  Peter  which,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  this  conflict  until  the  present  time,  whether  in  the 
days  of  my  father  or  in  my  own,  have  been  confiscated,  and 
Restoration  which  I  now  hold,  I  restore  to  the  holy  Roman 
of  confiscated     Church.    And  as  for  those  things  which  I  do  not 

now  hold,  I  will  faithfully  aid  in  their  restora- 
tion.   The  property  also  of  all  other  churches  and  princes  and 

1  That  is,  the  Emperor  was  to  be  allowed  to  invest  the  new  bishop  or  abbot 
with  the  fiefs  and  secular  powers  by  a  touch  of  the  scepter,  but  his  old  claim 
to  the  right  of  investment  with  the  spiritual  emblems  of  ring  and  crozier 
was  denied. 

2  This  means  that  the  ecclesiastical  prince  the  bishop  or  abbot — in  the 
capacity  of  a  landholder  was  to  render  the  ordinary  feudal  obligations  to 
the  Emperor. 

'  Burgundy  and  Italy, 


THE   CONCORDAT  OF  WORMS  281 

of  every  one,  whether  lay  or  ecclesiastical,  which  has  been  lost 
in  the  struggle,  I  will  restore  as  far  as  I  hold  it,  according  to  the 
counsel  of  the  princes,  or  according  to  considerations  of  justice. 
I  will  also  faithfully  aid  in  the  restoration  of  those  things  which 
I  do  not  hold. 

And  I  grant  a  true  peace  to  our  lord  Pope  Calixtus,  and  to  the 
holy  Roman  Church,  and  to  all  those  who  are,  or  have  been,  on 
its  side.  In  matters  where  the  holy  Roman  Church  shall  seek 
assistance,  I  will  faithfully  render  it,  and  when  it  shall  make 
complaint  to  me  I  will  see  that  justice  is  done. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CRUSADES 

51.    Speech  of  Pope  Urban  II.  at  the  Council  of  Clermont  (1095) 

Within  a  short  time  after  the  death  of  Mohammed  (632)  the  whole 
country  of  Syria,  including  Palestine,  was  overrun  by  the  Arabs,  and  the 
Holy  City  of  Jerusalem  passed  out  of  Christian  hands  into  the  control  of 
the  infidels.  The  Arabs,  however,  shared  the  veneration  of  the  Chris- 
tians for  the  places  associated  with  the  life  of  Christ  and  did  not  greatly 
interfere  with  the  pilgrims  who  flocked  thither  from  all  parts  of  the  Chris- 
tian world.  In  the  tenth  century  the  strong  emperors  of  the  Mace- 
donian dynasty  at  Constantinople  succeeded  in  winning  back  all  of 
Syria  except  the  extreme  south,  and  the  prospect  seemed  fair  for  the 
permanent  possession  by  a  Christian  power  of  all  those  portions  of  the 
Holy  Land  which  were  regarded  as  having  associations  peculiarly  sacred. 
This  prospect  might  have  been  realized  but  for  the  invasions  and  con- 
quests of  the  Seljuk  Turks  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century. 
These  Turks  came  from  central  Asia  and  are  to  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  the  Ottoman  Turks  of  more  modern  times.  They  had  recently 
been  converted  to  Mohammedanism  and  were  now  the  fiercest  and  most 
formidable  champions  of  that  faith  in  its  conflict  with  the  Christian 
East.  In  1071  Emperor  Romanus  Diogenes  was  defeated  at  Manzikert, 
in  Armenia,  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  sultan  Alp  Arslan,  and  as  a  re- 
sult not  only  Asia  Minor,  but  also  Syria,  was  forever  lost  to  the  Empire. 
The  Holy  City  of  Jerusalem  was  definitely  occupied  in  1076.  The  in- 
vaders established  a  stronghold  at  Nicaea,  less  than  a  hundred  miles 
across  the  Sea  of  Marmora  from  Constantinople,  and  even  threatened 
the  capital  itself,  although  they  did  not  finally  succeed  in  taking  it  until 
1453. 

No  sooner  were  the  Turks  in  possession  of  Jerusalem  and  the  ap- 
proaches thither,  than  pilgrims  returning  to  western  Europe  began  to 

282 


THE    SPEECH   OF   POPE   URBAN   II.  283 

tell  tales,  not  infrequently  as  true  as  they  were  terrifying,  regarding  in- 
sults and  tortures  suffered  at  the  hand  of  the  pitiless  conquerors.  The 
Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  (1081-1118)  put  forth  every  effort  to  expel 
the  intruders  from  Asia  Minor,  hoping  to  be  able  to  regain  the  territories, 
including  Syria,  which  they  had  stripped  from  the  Empire;  but  his 
strength  proved  unequal  to  the  task.  Accordingly,  in  1095,  he  sent  an 
appeal  to  Pope  Urban  II.  to  enlist  the  Christian  world  in  a  united  effort 
to  save  both  the  Empire  and  the  Eastern  Church.  It  used  to  be  thought 
that  Pope  Sylvester  II.,  about  the  year  1000,  had  suggested  a  crusade 
against  the  Mohammedans  of  the  East,  but  it  now  appears  that  the  first 
pope  to  advance  such  an  idea  was  Gregory  VII.  (1073-1085),  who  in 
response  to  an  appeal  of  Alexius's  predecessor  in  1074,  had  actually  as- 
sembled an  army  of  50,000  men  for  the  aid  of  the  Emperor  and  had  been 
prevented  from  carrying  out  the  project  only  by  the  severity  of  the 
investiture  controversy  with  Henry  IV.  of  Germany.  At  any  rate,  it  was 
not  a  difficult  task  for  the  ambassadors  of  Alexius  to  convince  Pope 
Urban  that  he  ought  to  execute  the  plan  of  Gregory.  The  plea  for  aid 
was  made  at  the  Council  of  Piacenza  in  March,  1095,  and  during  the  next 
few  months  Urban  thought  out  the  best  method  of  procedure. 

At  the  Council  of  Clermont,  held  in  November,  1095,  the  crusade  was 
formally  proclaimed  through  the  famous  speech  which  the  Pope  himself 
delivered  after  the  regular  business  of  the  assembly  had  been  transacted. 
Urban  was  a  Frenchman  and  he  knew  how  to  appeal  to  the  emotions  and 
sympathies  of  his  hearers.  For  the  purpose  of  stirring  up  interest  in  the 
enterprise  he  dropped  the  Latin  in  which  the  work  of  the  Council  had 
been  transacted  and  broke  forth  in  his  native  tongue,  much  to  the  de- 
light of  his  countrymen.  There  are  four  early  versions  of  the  speech, 
differing  widely  in  contents,  and  none,  of  course,  reproducing  the  exact 
words  used  by  the  speaker.  The  version  given  by  Robert  the  Monk,  a 
resident  of  Rheims,  in  the  opening  chapter  of  his  history  of  the  first 
crusade  seems  in  most  respects  superior  to  the  others.  It  was  written 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  Council  of  Clermont,  but  the 
writer  in  all  probability  had  at  least  heard  the  speech  which  he  was  try- 
ing to  reproduce ;  in  any  event  we  may  take  his  version  of  it  as  a  very 
satisfactory  representation  of  the  aspirations  and  spirit  which  impelled 
the  first  crusaders  to  their  great  enterprise.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
"many  orations  have  been  delivered  with  as  much  eloquence,  and  in 


284  THE   CRUSADES 

as  fiery  words  as  the  Pope  used,  but  no  other  oration  has  ever  been  able 
to  boast  of  as  wonderful  results." 


Source — Robertus  Monachus,  Historia  I herosolimitana  [Robert  the  Monk, 
"History  of  the  Crusade  to  Jerusalem"],  Bk.  I.,  Chap.  1.  Re- 
printed in  Recueildes  Historiens  des  Croisades:  Historiens  Occiden- 
taux  (Paris,  1866),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  727-728.  Adapted  from  transla- 
tion by  Dana  C.  Munro  in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints. 
Vol.  I.,  No.  2,  pp.  5-8. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  one  thousand  and 
ninety-five,  a  great  council  was  convened  within  the  bounds  of 
The  Council  Gaul,  in  Auvergne,  in  the  city  which  is  called 
of  Clermont  Clermont.  Over  this  Pope  Urban  II.  presided, 
with  the  Roman  bishops  and  cardinals.  This  council  was  a 
famous  one  on  account  of  the  concourse  of  both  French  and 
German  bishops,  and  of  princes  as  well.  Having  arranged  the 
matters  relating  to  the  Church,  the  lord  Pope  went  forth  into  a 
certain  spacious  plain,  for  no  building  was  large  enough  to  hold 
all  the  people.  The  Pope  then,  with  sweet  and  persuasive  elo- 
quence, addressed  those  present  in  words  something  like  the 
following,  saying: 

"Oh,  race  of  Franks,  race  beyond  the  mountains  [the  Alps], 
race  beloved  and  chosen  by  God  (as  is  clear  from  many  of  your 
works),  set  apart  from  all  other  nations  by  the  situation  of  your 
p       jj  .  country,  as  well  as  by  your  Catholic  faith  and 

appeals  to  the  the  honor  you  render  to  the  holy  Church :  to  you 
our  discourse  is  addressed,  and  for  you  our 
exhortations  are  intended.  We  wish  you  to  know  what  a  serious 
matter  has  led  us  to  your  country,  for  it  is  the  imminent  peril 
threatening  you  and  all  the  faithful  that  has  brought  us  hither. 

"  From  the  confines  of  Jerusalem  and  from  the  city  of  Con- 
stantinople a  grievous  report  has  gone  forth  and  has  been  brought 
repeatedly  to  our  ears;  namely,  that  a  race  from  the  kingdom 
of  the  Persians,  an  accursed  race,  a  race  wholly  alienated  from 
God,  'a  generation  that  set  not  their  heart  aright,  and  whose 
spirit  was  not  steadfast  with  God'  [Ps.,  lxxviii.  8],  has  vio- 


THE   SPEECH   OF   POPE   URBAN   II.  285 

lently  invaded  the  lands  of  those  Christians  and  has  depopu- 
lated them  by  pillage  and  fire.  They  have  led  away  a  part  of  the 
The  ravages  captives  into  their  own  country,  and  a  part  they 
of  the  Turks  ha,ye  killed  by  cruel  tortures.  They  have  either 
destroyed  the  churches  of  God  or  appropriated  them  for  the  rites 
of  their  own  religion.  They  destroy  the  altars,  after  having 
defiled  them  with  their  uncleanness.  .  .  .  The  kingdom  of 
the  Greeks  [the  Eastern  Empire]  is  now  dismembered  by  them 
and  has  been  deprived  of  territory  so  vast  in  extent  that  it  could 
not  be  traversed  in  two  months^  time. 

"  On  whom,  therefore,  rests  the  labor  of  avenging  these  wrongs 
and  of  recovering  this  territory,  if  not  upon  you — you,  upon 
whom,  above  all  other  nations,  God  has  conferred  remarkable 
glory  in  arms,  great  courage,  bodily  activity,  and  strength  to 
humble  the  heads  of  those  who  resist  you?  Let  the  deeds  of 
your  ancestors  encourage  you  and  incite  your  minds  to  manly 
Urban  recalls  achievements — the  glory  and  greatness  of  King 
valcTaf  th(f  Charlemagne,  and  of  his  son  Louis  [the  Pious], 
earlier  Franks  and  of  your  other  monarchs,  who  have  destroyed 
the  kingdoms  of  the  Turks  1  and  have  extended  the  sway  of  the 
holy  Church  over  lands  previously  pagan.  Let  the  holy  sepulcher 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  which  is  possessed  by  the  unclean 
nations,  especially  arouse  you,  and  the  holy  places  which  are 
now  treated  with  ignominy  and  irreverently  polluted  with  the 
filth  of  the  unclean.  Oh  most  valiant  soldiers  and  descendants 
of  invincible  ancestors,  do  not  degenerate,  but  recall  the  valor  of 
your  ancestors. 

"  But  if  you  are  hindered  by  love  of  children,  parents,  or  wife, 
remember  what  the  Lord  says  in  the  Gospel,  'He  that  loveth 
father  or  mother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me'  [Matt., 
x.  37].      'Every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or  brethren,  or 

1  The  term  Turks  is  here  used  loosely  and  inaccurately  for  Asiatic  pagan 
invaders  in  general.  The  French  had  never  destroyed  any  "kingdoms  of  the 
Turks"  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  though  from  time  to  time  they  had 
made  successful  resistance  to  Saracens,  Avars  and  Hungarians. 


286  THE   CRUSADES 

sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for 
my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold,  and  shall  inherit 
everlasting  life'  [Matt.,  xix.  29].  Let  none  of  your  possessions 
restrain  you,  nor  anxiety  for  your  family  affairs.  For  this  land 
which  you  inhabit,  shut  in  on  all  sides  by  the  seas  and  sur- 
The  crusade  as  rounded  by  the  mountain  peaks,  is  too  narrow 
edv^or  ovVr6111"  ^or  vour  large  population;  nor  does  it  abound  in 
population  wealth;   and   it   furnishes  scarcely   food   enough 

for  its  cultivators.  Hence  it  is  that  you  murder  and  devour 
one  another,  that  you  wage  war,  and  that  very  many  among  you 
perish  in  civil  strife.1 

"  Let  hatred,  therefore,  depart  from  among  you;  let  your  quar- 
rels end;  let  wars  cease;  and  let  all  dissensions  and  controversies 
slumber.  Enter  upon  the  road  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher;  wrest  that 
land  from  the  wicked  race,  and  subject  it  to  yourselves.  That 
Syria,  a  rich  land  which,  as  the  Scripture  says,  'floweth  with 
country  milk  and   honey'  [Num.,  xiii.  27]  was  given  by 

God  into  the  power  of  the  children  of  Israel.  Jerusalem  is  the 
center  of  the  earth;  the  land  is  fruitful  above  all  others,  like 
another  paradise  of  delights.  This  spot  the  Redeemer  of  man- 
kind has  made  illustrious  by  His  advent,  has  beautified  by  His 
sojourn,  has  consecrated  by  His  passion,  has  redeemed  by  His 
death,  has  glorified  by  His  burial. 

"  This  royal  city,  however,  situated  at  the  center  of  the  earth, 
is  now  held  captive  by  the  enemies  of  Christ  and  is  subjected, 
by  those  who  do  not  know  God,  to  the  worship  of  the  heathen. 
She  seeks,  therefore,  and  desires  to  be  liberated,  and  ceases  not  to 
implore  you  to  come  to  her  aid.  From  you  especially  she  asks 
succor,  because,  as  we  have  already  said,  God  has  conferred 

1  Among  the  acts  of  the  Council  of  Clermont  had  been  a  solemn  confi n na- 
tion of  the  Truce  of  God,  with  the  purpose  of  restraining  feudal  warfare  [see 
p.  228].  In  the  version  of  Urban 's  speech  given  by  Fulcher  of  Chart  res,  the 
rope  is  reported  as  saying  that  in  some  parts  of  France  "hardly  any  one  can 
venture  to  travel  upon  the  highways,  by  night  or  day,  without  danger  of 
attack  by  thieves  or  robl>ers;  and  no  one  is  sure  that  his  property  at  home 
or  abroad  will  not  be  taken  from  him  by  the  violence  or  craft  of  the  wicked . " 


THE    SPEECH    OF   POPE   URBAN    II.  287 

upon  you,  above  all  other  nations,  great  glory  in  arms.  Accord- 
ingly, undertake  this  journey  eagerly  for  the  remission  of  your 
sins,  with  the  assurance  of  the  reward  of  imperishable  glory  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

When  Pope  Urban  had  skilfully  said  these  and  very  many 
similar  things,  he  so  centered  in  one  purpose  the  desires  of  all 

Response  to  wno  were  present  that  all  cried  out,  u  It  is  the 
the  appeal  will  of  God!     It  is  the  will  of  God!»     When  the 

venerable  Roman  pontiff  heard  that,  with  eyes  uplifted  to  heaven, 
he  gave  thanks  to  God  and,  commanding  silence  with  his  hand,  said : 

"Most  beloved  brethren,  to-day  is  manifest  in  you  what  the 
Lord  says  in  the  Gospel,  '  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them'  [Matt., 
xviii.  20].  For  unless  God  had  been  present  in  your  spirits,  all 
of  you  would  not  have  uttered  the  same  cry;  since,  although 
"Deusvult,"  the  cry  issued  from  numerous  mouths,  yet  the 
the  war  cry  origin  of  the  cry  was  one.  Therefore  I  say  to  you 
that  God,  who  implanted  this  in  your  breasts,  has  drawn  it  forth 
from  you.  Let  that,  then,  be  your  war  cry  in  battle,  because  it 
is  given  to  you  by  God.  When  an  armed  attack  is  made  upon 
the  enemy,  let  this  one  cry  be  raised  by  all  the  soldiers  of  God: 
'  It  is  the  will  of  God!    It  is  the  will  of  God! ' 

"And  we  neither  command  nor  advise  that  the  old  or  feeble, 
or  those  incapable  of  bearing  arms,  undertake  this  journey. 
Nor  ought  women  to  set  out  at  all  without  their  husbands,  or 
brothers,  or  legal  guardians.  For  such  are  more  of  a  hindrance 
than  aid,  more  of  a  burden  than  an  advantage.  Let  the  rich 
aid  the  needy;  and  according  to  their  wealth  let  them  take  with 
them  experienced  soldiers.  The  priests  and  other  clerks  [clergy], 
Who  should  ffo  wnetner  secular  or  regular,  are  not  to  go  without 
and  who  should  the  consent  of  their  bishop;  for  this  journey 
would  profit  them  nothing  if  they  went  without 
permission.  Also,  it  is  not  fitting  that  laymen  should  enter  upon 
the  pilgrimage  without  the  blessing  of  their  priests. 


288  THE   CRUSADES 

"  Whoever,  therefore,  shall  decide  upon  this  holy  pilgrimage, 
and  shall  make  his  vow  to  God  to  that  effect,  and  shall  offer 
himself  to  Him  for  sacrifice,  as  a  living  victim,  holy  and  acceptable 
to  God,  shall  wear  the  sign  of  the  cross  of  the  Lord  on  his  fore- 
head or  on  his  breast.  When  he  shall  return  from  his  journey, 
having  fulfilled  his  vow,  let  him  place  the  cross  on  his  back 
between  his  shoulders.  Thus  shall  ye,  indeed,  by  this  twofold 
action,  fulfill  the  precept  of  the  Lord,  as  He  commands  in  the 
Gospel,  'He  that  taketh  not  his  cross,  and  followeth  after  me, 
is  not  worthy  of  me'  "  [Luke,  xiv.  27]. 

52.    The  Starting  of  the  Crusaders  (1096) 

The  appeals  of  Pope  Urban  at  Clermont  and  elsewhere  met  with  ready 
response,  especially  among  the  French,  but  also  to  a  considerable  extent 
among  Italians,  Germans,  and  even  English.  A  great  variety  of  people 
were  attracted  by  the  enterprise,  and  from  an  equal  variety  of  motives. 
Men  whose  lives  had  been  evil  saw  in  the  crusade  an  opportunity  of 
doing  penance ;  criminals  who  perhaps  cared  little  for  penance  but  much 
for  their  own  personal  safety  saw  in  it  an  avenue  of  escape  from  justice ; 
merchants  discovered  in  it  a  chance  to  open  up  new  and  valuable  trade ; 
knights  hailed  it  as  an  invitation  to  deeds  of  valor  and  glory  surpassing 
any  Europe  had  yet  known ;  ordinary  malcontents  regarded  it  as  a  chance 
to  mend  their  fortunes;  and  a  very  large  number  of  people  looked  upon 
it  as  a  great  spiritual  obligation  laid  upon  them  and  necessary  to  be 
performed  in  order  to  insure  salvation  in  the  world  to  come.  By  reason 
of  all  these  incentives,  some  of  them  weighing  much  more  in  the  mediaeval 
mind  than  we  can  understand  to-day,  the  crusade  brought  together  men, 
women,  and  children  from  every  part  of  Christendom.  Both  of  the 
accounts  given  below  of  the  assembling  and  starting  of  the  crusaders 
are  doubtless  more  or  less  exaggerated  at  certain  points,  yet  in  substance 
they  represent  what  must  have  been  pretty  nearly  the  actual  facts. 

William  of  Malmesbury  was  an  English  monk  who  lived  in  the  first 
half  of  the  twelfth  century  and  wrote  a  very  valuable  Chronicle  of  the 
Kings  of  England,  which  reached  the  opening  of  the  reign  of  Stephen 
(1135).    He  thus  had  abundant  opportunity  to  learn  of  the  first  crusade 


4 

THE   STARTING  OF  THE   CRUSADERS  289 

from  people  who  had  actually  participated  in  it.  His  rather  humorous 
picture  of  the  effects  of  Pope  Urban 's  call  is  thus  well  worth  reading. 
Better  than  it,  however,  is  the  account  by  the  priest  Fulcher  of  Chartres 
(1058-1124) — better  because  the  writer  himself  took  part  in  the  cru- 
sade and  so  was  a  personal  observer  of  most  of  the  things  he  undertook 
to  describe.  Fulcher,  in  1096,  set  out  upon  the  crusade  in  the  company 
of  his  lord,  Etienne,  count  of  Blois  and  Chartres,  who  was  a  man  of 
importance  in  the  army  of  Robert  of  Normandy.  With  the  rest  of  Rob- 
ert's crusaders  he  spent  the  winter  in  Italy  and  arrived  at  Durazzo  in 
the  spring  of  1097.  He  had  a  part  in  the  siege  of  Nicaea  and  in  the  battle 
of  Dorylaeum,  but  not  in  the  siege  of  Antioch.  Before  reaching  Jeru- 
salem, in  1099,  he  became  chaplain  to  a  brother  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon 
and  was  already  making  progress  on  his  "history  of  the  army  of  God." 

Sources — (a)  Guilielmus  Monachi  Malmesburiensis,Z>e<7es^'sre<7iwi  Anglorum 
[William  of  Malmesbury,  "Chronicle  of  the  Kings  of  Eng- 
land"], Bk.  IV.,  Chap.  2.  Adapted  from  translation  by  John 
Sharpe  (London,  1815),  p.  416. 

(b)  Fulcherius  Carnotensis,  Historia  Iherosolimitana:  gesta  Fran- 
corum  Iherusalem  peregrinantium  [Fulcher  of  Chartres,  "  His- 
tory of  the  Crusade  to  Jerusalem:  the  Deeds  of  the  French 
Journeying  Thither"],  Chap.  6.  Text  in  Recueil  des  Historiens 
des  Croisades:  Historiens  Occidentaux  (Paris,  1866),  Vol.  III., 
p.  328. 

(a) 

Immediately  the  fame  of  this  great  event,1  being  spread 
through  the  universe,  penetrated  the  minds  of  Christians  with 
its  mild  breath,  and  wherever  it  blew  there  was  no  nation,  how- 
ever distant  and  obscure,  that  did  not  send  some  of  its  people. 
This  zeal  animated  not  only  the  provinces  bordering  on  the 
Mediterranean,  but  all  who  had  ever  even  heard  of  the  name 
Christian  in  the  most  remote  isles,  and  among  barbarous  nations. 
Then  the  Welshman  abandoned  his  forests  and  neglected  his 
hunting;  the  Scotchman  deserted  the  fleas  with  which  he  is  so 

-  .     _    ,  .  familiar;   the  Dane  ceased  to  swallow  his  intoxi- 

Universal  in- 
terest in  the       eating  draughts;  and  the  Norwegian  turned  his 
crusade 

back  upon  his  raw  fish.    The   fields  were  left  by 

the  cultivators,  and  the  houses  by  their  inhabitants;  all  the  cities 

1  Pope  Urban 's  appeal  at  the  Council  of  Clermont. 

Med.  Hist.— 19 


290  THE   CRUSADES 

were  deserted.  People  were  restrained  neither  by  the  ties  of 
blood  nor  the  love  of  country;  they  saw  nothing  but  God.  All 
that  was  in  the  granaries,  or  was  destined  for  food,  was  left 
under  the  guardianship  of  the  greedy  agriculturist.  The  journey 
to  Jerusalem  was  the  only  thing  hoped  for  or  thought  of.  Joy 
animated  the  hearts  of  all  who  set  out;  grief  dwelt  in  the  hearts 
of  all  who  remained.  Why  do  I  say  "of  those  who  remained  "  ? 
You  might  have  seen  the  husband  setting  forth  with  his  wife, 
with  all  his  family ;  you  would  have  laughed  to  see  all  the  penates  1 
put  in  motion  and  loaded  upon  wagons.  The  road  was  too 
narrow  for  the  passengers,  and  more  room  was  wanted  for  the 
travelers,  so  great  and  numerous  was  the  crowd.2 

(b) 
Such,  then,  was  the  immense  assemblage  which  set  out  from 
the  West.  Gradually  along  the  march,  and  from  day  to  day,  the 
army  grew  by  the  addition  of  other  armies,  coming  from  every 
direction  and  composed  of  innumerable  people.  Thus  one  saw 
an  infinite  multitude,  speaking  different  languages  and  coming 
from  divers  countries.  All  did  not,  however,  come  together  into 
The  multitude  a  single  army  until  we  had  reached  the  city  of 
of  crusaders  Nicsea.3  What  shall  I  add?  The  isles  of  the  sea 
and  the  kingdoms  of  the  whole  earth  were  moved  by  God,  so 
that  one  might  believe  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  David,  who  said 
in  his  Psalm:  "All  nations  whom  Thou  hast  made  shall  come 
and  worship  before  Thee,  O  Lord,  and  shall  glorify  Thy  name;  " 
and  so  that  those  who  reached  the  holy  places  afterwards  said 
justly:  "We  will  worship  where  His  feet  have  stood."    Concern- 

1  The  penates  of  the  Romans  were  household  gods.  William  of  Malmes- 
bury  here  uses  the  term  half-humorously  to  designate  the  various  sorts  of 
household  articles  which  the  crusaders  thought  they  could  not  do  without 
on  the  expedition,  and  hence  undertook  to  carry  with  them. 

2  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1097.  The  whole  body  of  crusaders,  including 
monks,  women,  children,  and  hangers-on,  may  then  have  numbered  three  or 
four  hundred  thousand,  but  the  effective  fighting  force  was  not  likely  over 
one  hundred  thousand  men. 

3  The  crusaders  reached  Nicaea  May  6,  1097.  After  a  long  siege  the  city 
surrendered,  although  to  the  Emperor  Alexius  rather  than  to  the  French. 


THE   STARTING   OF   THE    CRUSADERS  291 

ing  this  journey  we  read  very  many  other  predictions  in  the 
prophets,  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  recall. 

Oh,  how  great  was  the  grief,  how  deep  the  sighs,  what  weep- 
ing, what  lamentations  among  the  friends,  when  the  husband 
left  the  wife  so  dear  to  him,  his  children  also,  and  all  his  posses- 
sions of  any  kind,  father,  mother,  brethren,  or  kindred!  And 
M-     .   -  yet  in  spite  of  the  floods  of  tears  which  those 

row  and  joy  of  who  remained  shed  for  their  friends  about  to 
depart,  and  in  their  very  presence,  the  latter  did 
not  suffer  their  courage  to  fail,  and,  out  of  love  for  the  Lord,  in 
no  way  hesitated  to  leave  all  that  they  held  most  precious,  be- 
lieving without  doubt  that  they  would  gain  an  hundred-fold 
in  receiving  the  recompense  which  God  has  promised  to  those 
who  love  Him. 

Then  the  husband  confided  to  his  wife  the  time  of  his  return 
and  assured  her  that,  if  he  lived,  by  God's  grace  he  would  return 
to  her.  He  commended  her  to  the  Lord,  gave  her  a  kiss,  and, 
weeping,  promised  to  return.  But  the  latter,  who  feared  that 
she  would  never  see  him  again,  overcome  with  grief,  was  unable 
to  stand,  fell  as  if  lifeless  to  the  ground,  and  wept  over  her  dear 
one  whom  she  was  losing  in  life,  as  if  he  were  already  dead. 
He,  then,  as  if  he  had  no  pity  (nevertheless  he  was  filled  with 
pity)  and  was  not  moved  by  the  grief  of  his  friends  (and  yet  he 
was  secretly  moved),  departed  with  a  firm  purpose.  The  sadness 
was  for  those  who  remained,  and  the  joy  for  those  who  departed. 
What  more  can  we  say?  "This  is  the  Lord's  doings,  and  it.  is 
marvelous  in  our  eyes." 

53.   A  Letter  from  a  Crusader  to  his  Wife 

One  of  the  most  important  groups  of  sources  on  the  crusades  is  the 
large  body  of  letters  which  has  come  down  to  us,  written  by  men  who 
had  an  actual  part  in  the  various  expeditions.  These  letters,  addressed 
to  parents,  wives,  children,  vassals,  or  friends,  are  valuable  alike  for 
the  facts  which  they  contain  and  for  the  revelation  they  give  of  the  spirit 


292  THE   CRUSADES 

and  motives  of  the  crusaders.  A  considerable  collection  of  the  letters, 
in  English  translation,  may  be  found  in  Roger  de  Hoveden's  Annals  of 
English  History,  Roger  of  Wendover's  Flowers  of  History,  and  Matthew 
Paris's  English  History  (all  in  the  Bohn  Library);  also  in  Michaud's 
History  of  the  Crusades,  Vol.  III.,  Appendix.  In  many  respects  the  letter 
given  below,  written  at  Antioch  by  Count  Stephen  of  Blois  to  his  wife 
Adele,  under  date  of  March  29,  1098,  is  unexcelled  in  all  the  records  of 
mediaeval  letter-writing.  Count  Stephen  (a  brother-in-law  of  Robert 
of  Normandy,  who  was  a  son  of  William  the  Conqueror)  was  one  of  the 
wealthiest  and  most  popular  French  noblemen  who  responded  to  Pope 
Urban 's  summons  at  Clermont.  At  least  three  of  his  letters  to  his  wife 
survive,  of  which  the  one  here  given  is  the  third  in  order  of  time. 
It  discloses  the  ordinary  human  sentiments  of  the  crusader  and  makes 
us  feel  that,  unlike  the  modern  man  as  he  was,  he  yet  had  very  much 
in  common  with  the  people  of  to-day  and  of  all  ages.  He  was  at  the 
same  time  a  bold  fighter  and  a  tender  husband,  a  religious  enthusiast 
and  a  practical  man  of  affairs.  When  the  letter  was  written,  the  siege 
of  Antioch  had  been  in  progress  somewhat  more  than  five  months;  it 
continued  until  the  following  June,  when  it  ended  in  the  capture  of  the 
city  by  the  crusaders.  Count  Stephen  was  slain  in  the  battle  of  Ramleh 
in  1102. 

Source — D'Achery,  Spicilegium  ["Gleanings"],  2d  edition,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  430- 
433.  Adapted  from  translation  by  Dana  C.  Munro  in  Univ.  of 
Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  I.,  No.  4,  pp.  5-8. 

Count  Stephen  to  Adele,  his  sweetest  and  most  amiable  wife, 
to  his  dear  children,  and  to  all  his  vassals  of  all  ranks, — his 
greeting  and  blessing. 

You  may  be  very  sure,  dearest,  that  the  messenger  whom  I 
sent  to  give  you  pleasure  left  me  before  Antioch  safe  and  un- 
harmed and,  through  God's  grace,  in  the  greatest  prosperity. 
And  already  at  that  time,  together  with  all  the  chosen  army  of 
Count  Stephen  Christ>  endowed  with  great  valor  by  Him,  we 
reports  pros-  have  been  continually  advancing  for  twenty-three 
pe    y  weeks  toward  the  home  of  our  Lord  Jesus.     You 

may  know  for  certain,  my  beloved,  that  of  gold,  silver,  and 


A  LETTER  FROM  A  CRUSADER  TO  HIS  WIFE      293 

many  other  kind  of  riches  I  now  have  twice  as  much  as  your 

love  had  assigned  to  me  when  I  left  you.     For  all  our  princes, 

with  the  common  consent  of  the  whole  army,  though  against  my 

own  wishes,  have  made  me  up  to  the  present  time  the  leader, 

chief,  and  director  of  their  whole  expedition. 

Doubtless  you  have  heard  that  after  the  capture  of  the  city 

of  Nicsea  we  fought  a  great  battle  with  the  treacherous  Turks 

and,  by  God's  aid,  conquered  them.1    Next  we  conquered  for  the 

Lord  all  Romania,  and  afterwards  Cappadocia.2     We  had  learned 

that  there  was  a  certain  Turkish  prince,  Assam,  dwelling  in 

Cappadocia;  so  we  directed  our  course  thither.     We  conquered 

„    .       , .  all  his  castles  by  force  and  compelled  him  to  flee 

Early  achieve-  J  \ 

ments  of  the  to  a  certain  very  strong  castle  situated  on  a  high 
rock.  We  also  gave  the  land  of  that  Assam  to 
one  of  our  chiefs,  and  in  order  that  he  might  conquer  the  prince 
we  left  there  with  him  many  soldiers  of  Christ.  Thence,  con- 
tinually following  the  wicked  Turks,  we  drove  them  through  the 
midst  of  Armenia,3  as  far  as  the  great  river  Euphrates.  Having 
left  all  their  baggage  and  beasts  of  burden  on  the  bank,  they  fled 
across  the  river  into  Arabia. 

The  bolder  of  the  Turkish  soldiers,  indeed,  entering  Syria, 
hastened  by  forced  marches  night  and  day,  in  order  to  be  able 
to  enter  the  royal  city  of  Antioch  before  our  approach.4  Hear- 
ing of  this,  the  whole  army  of  God  gave  due  praise  and  thanks 
to  the  all-powerful  Lord.  Hastening  with  great  joy  to  this 
The  arrival  ct  chief  city  of  Antioch,  we  besieged  it  and  there 
Antioch  (L097)  j^  a  great  number  of  conflicts  with  the  Turks; 
and  seven  times  we  fought  with  the  citizens  of  the  city  and  with 

1  This  battle — the  first  pitched  contest  between  the  crusader  and  the 
Turk — was  fought  at  Dorylseum,  southeast  of  Nicaca. 

2  Romania  (or  the  sultanate  of  Roum)  and  Cappadocia  were  regions  in 
northern  Asia  Minor. 

3  The  country  immediately  southeast  of  the  Black  Sea. 

4  Antioch  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  cities  of  the  East. 
It  had  been  girdled  with  enormous  walls  by  Justinian  and  was  a  strategic 
position  of  the  greatest  value  to  any  power  which  would  possess  Syria  and 
Palestine.    The  siege  of  the  city  by  the  crusaders  began  October  21,  1097. 


294  THE  CRUSADES 

the  innumerable  troops  all  the  time  coming  to  their  aid.  The  lat- 
ter we  rushed  out  to  meet  and  fought  with  the  fiercest  courage 
under  the  leadership  of  Christ.  And  in  all  these  seven  battles, 
by  the  aid  of  the  Lord  God,  we  conquered  and  most  assuredly 
killed  an  innumerable  host  of  them.  In  those  battles,  indeed, 
and  in  very  many  attacks  made  upon  the  city,  many  of  our 
brethren  and  followers  were  killed  and  their  souls  were  borne  to 
the  joys  of  paradise. 

We  found  the  city  of  Antioch  very  extensive,  fortified  with  the 
greatest  strength  and  almost  impossible  to  be  taken.  In  addi- 
tion, more  than  5,000  bold  Turkish  soldiers  had  entered  the  city, 
not  counting  the  Saracens,  Publicans,  Arabs,  Turcopolitans, 
Syrians,  Armenians,  and  other  different  races  of  whom  an  in- 
finite multitude  had  gathered  together  there.  In  fighting  against 
The  beginning  these  enemies  of  God  and  of  us  we  have,  by  God's 
of  the  siege  grace,  endured  many  sufferings  and  innumerable 
hardships  up  to  the  present  time.  Many  also  have  already 
exhausted  all  their  means  in  this  most  holy  enterprise.  Very 
many  of  our  Franks,  indeed,  would  have  met  a  bodily  death 
from  starvation,  if  the  mercy  of  God  and  our  money  had  not 
come  to  their  rescue.  Lying  before  the  city  of  Antioch,  indeed, 
throughout  the  whole  winter  we  suffered  for  our  Lord  Christ 
from  excessive  cold  and  enormous  torrents  of  rain.  What  some 
say  about  the  impossibility  of  bearing  the  heat  of  the  sun  in 
Syria  is  untrue,  for  the  winter  there  is  very  similar  to  our  winter 
in  the  West. 

I  delight  to  tell  you,  dearest,  what  happened  to  us  during  Lent. 
Our  princes  had  caused  a  fortress  to  be  built  before  a  certain 
gate  which  was  between  our  camp  and  the  sea.  For  the  Turks, 
coming  out  of  this  gate  daily,  killed  some  of  our  men  on  their 
way  to  the  sea.  The  city  of  Antioch  is  about  five  leagues  distant 
from  the  sea.  For  this  purpose  they  sent  the  excellent  Bohe- 
mond  and  Raymond,  count  of  St.  Gilles,1  to  the  sea  with  only 

1  Bohemond  of  Tarentum  was  the  son  of  Robert  Guiscard  and  the  leader 


A   LETTER   FROM   A   CRUSADER   TO   HIS   WIFE  295 

sixty  horsemen,  in  order  that  they  might  bring  mariners  to  aid 
in  this  work.  When,  however,  they  were  returning  to  us  with 
Th  nh  *  f  these  mariners,  the  Turks  collected  an  army,  fell 
defeated  near  suddenly  upon  our  two  leaders,  and  forced  them 
to  a  perilous  flight.  In  that  unexpected  fight  we 
lost  more  than  500  of  our  foot-soldiers — to  the  glory  of  God. 
Of  our  horsemen,  however,  we  lost  only  two,  for  certain. 

On  that  same  day,  in  order  to  receive  our  brethren  with  joy, 
and  entirely  ignorant  of  their  misfortunes,  we  went  out  to  meet 
them.  When,  however,  we  approached  the  above-mentioned 
gate  of  the  city,  a  mob  of  foot-soldiers  and  horsemen  from 
Antioch,  elated  by  the  victory  which  they  had  won,  rushed  upon 
us  in  the  same  manner.  Seeing  these,  our  leaders  went  to  the 
camp  of  the  Christians  to  order  all  to  be  ready  to  follow  us  into 
battle.  In  the  meantime  our  men  gathered  together  and  the 
scattered  leaders,  namely,  Bohemond  and  Raymond,  with  the 
remainder  of  their  army  came  up  and  told  of  the  great  misfortune 
which  they  had  suffered. 

Our  men,  full  of  fury  at  these  most  evil  tidings,  prepared  to 

die  for  Christ  and,  deeply  grieved  for  their  brethren,  rushed  upon 

the  wicked  Turks.    They,  enemies  of  God  and  of  us,  hastily  fled 

before  us  and  attempted  to  enter  the  city.    But  by  God's  grace 

the  affair  turned  out  very  differently;  for,  when  they  tried  to 

A      t  bl      'c-    cross  a  bridge  built  over  the  great  river  Moscho- 

tory  over  the  lum,1  we  followed  them  as  closely  as  possible, 
Turks 

killed    many    before    they    reached    the    bridge, 

forced  many  into  the  river,  all  of  whom  were  killed,  and  we  also 
slew  many  upon  the  bridge  and  very  many  at  the  narrow  en- 
trance to  the  gate.  I  am  telling  you  the  truth,  my  beloved, 
and  you  may  be  assured  that  in  this  battle  we  killed  thirty 
emirs,  that  is,  princes,  and  three  hundred  other  Turkish  nobles, 
not  counting  the  remaining'Turks  and  pagans.    Indeed  the  num- 

of  the  Norman  contingent  from  Italy.     Raymond  of  St.  Gilles,  count  of 
Toulouse,  was  leader  of  the  men  from  Languedoc  in  south  France, 
i  The  modern  Orontes. 


296  THE   CRUSADES 

ber  of  Turks  and  Saracens  killed  is  reckoned  at  1230,  but  of 
ours  we  did  not  lose  a  single  man. 

On  the  following  day  (Easter),  while  my  chaplain  Alexander 
was  writing  this  letter  in  great  haste,  a  party  of  our  men  lying 
in  wait  for  the  Turks  fought  a  successful  battle  with  them  and 
killed  sixty  horsemen,  whose  heads  they  brought  to  the  army. 

These  which  I  write  to  you  are  only  a  few  things,  dearest,  of 
the  many  which  we  have  done;  and  because  I  am  not  able  to  tell 
you,  dearest,  what  is  in  my  mind,  I  charge  you  to  do  right,  to 
watch  carefully  over  your  land,  and  to  do  your  duty  as  you 
ought  to  your  children  and  your  vassals.  You  will  certainly  see 
me  just  as  soon  as  I  can  possibly  return  to  you.     Farewell. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE     GREAT     CHARTER 

54.    The  Winning  of  the  Charter 

The  reign  of  King  John  (1199-1216)  was  an  era  of  humiliation, 
though  in  the  end  one  of  triumph,  for  all  classes  of  the  English  people. 
The  king  himself  was  perhaps  the  most  unworthy  sovereign  who  has 
ever  occupied  the  English  throne  and  one  after  another  of  his  deeds 
and  policies  brought  deep  shame  to  every  patriotic  Englishman.  His 
surrender  to  the  papacy  (1213)  and  his  loss  of  the  English  possessions 
on  the  continent  (1214)  were  only  two  of  the  most  conspicuous  results 
of  his  weakness  and  mismanagement.  Indeed  it  was  not  these  that 
touched  the  English  people  most  closely,  for  after  all  it  was  rather  their 
pride  than  their  real  interests  that  suffered  by  the  king's  homage  to 
Innocent  III.  and  his  bitter  defeat  at  Bouvines.  Worse  than  these 
things  were  the  heavy  taxes  and  the  illegal  extortions  of  money,  in 
which  John  went  far  beyond  even  his  unscrupulous  brother  and  prede- 
cessor, Richard.  The  king's  expenses  were  very  heavy,  the  more  so  by 
reason  of  his  French  wars,  and  to  meet  them  he  devised  all  manner  of 
schemes  for  wringing  money  from  his  unwilling  subjects.  Land  taxes 
were  increased,  scutage  (payments  in  lieu  of  military  service)  was  nearly 
doubled,  levies  of  a  thirteenth,  a  seventh,  and  other  large  fractions  of 
the  movable  property  of  the  realm  were  made,  excessive  fines  were 
imposed,  old  feudal  rights  were  revived  and  exercised  in  an  arbitrary 
fashion,  and  property  was  confiscated  on  the  shallowest  of  pretenses. 
Even  the  Church  was  by  no  means  immune  from  the  king's  rapacity. 
The  result  of  these  high-handed  measures  was  that  all  classes  of  the 
people — barons,  clergy,  and  commons — were  driven  into  an  attitude 
of  open  protest.  The  leadership  against  the  king  fell  naturally  to  the 
barons  and  it  was  directly  in  consequence  of  their  action  that  John  was 
brought,  in  1215,  to  grant  the  Great  Charter  and  to  pledge  himself  to 
govern  thereafter  according  to  the  ancient  and  just  laws  of  the  kingdom. 

297 


298  THE   GREAT   CHARTER 

The  account  of  the  winning  of  the  Charter  given  below  comes  from 
the  hand  of  Roger  of  Wendover,  a  monk  of  St.  Albans,  a  monastery  in 
Hertfordshire  which  was  famous  in  the  thirteenth  century  for  its  group 
of  historians  and  annalists.  It  begins  with  the  meeting  of  the  barons  at 
St.  Edmunds  in  Suffolk  late  in  November,  1214,  and  tells  the  story  to 
the  granting  of  the  Charter  at  Runnymede,  June  15,  1215.  On  this  sub- 
ject, as  well  as  on  the  entire  period  of  English  history  from  1189  to 
1235,  Roger  of  Wendover  is  our  principal  contemporary  authority 

Source — Rogerus  de  Wendover,  Chronica  Majora,  sive  Liber  qui  dicitur 
Flores  Historiarum  [Roger  of  Wendover,  "Greater  Chronicle,  or  the 
Book  which  is  called  the  Flowers  of  History"].  Translated  by 
J.  A.  Giles  (London,  1849),  Vol.  II.,  pp.  303-324  passim. 

About  this  time  the  earls  and  barons  of  England  assembled 
at  St.  Edmunds,  as  if  for  religious  duties,  although  it  was 
for  another  reason;  *  for  after  they  had  discoursed  together 
secretly  .for  a  time,  there  was  placed  before  them  the  charter  of 
King  Henry  the  First,  which  they  had  received,  as  mentioned 
before,  in  the  city  of  London  from  Stephen,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury.2 This  charter  contained  certain  liberties  and  laws  granted 
to  the  holy  Church  as  well  as  to  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom,  be- 
sides some  liberties  which  the  king  added  of  his  own  accord. 
All  therefore  assembled  in  the  church  of  St.  Edmund,  the  king 
and  martyr,  and,  commencing  with  those  of  the  highest  rank, 
they  all  swore  on  the  great  altar  that,  if  the  king  refused  to 
A  conference  grant  these  liberties  and  laws,  they  themselves 
barons^against  womd  withdraw  from  their  allegiance  to  him, 
King  John  and   make  war  on   him  until   he  should,  by  a 

charter  under  his  own  seal,  confirm  to  them  everything  that  they 
required;  and  finally  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that,  after 
Christmas,  they  should  all  go  together  to  the  king  and  demand 

i  The  barons  attended  the  meeting  under  the  pretense  of  making  a  religious 
pilgrimage. 

2  This  charter,  granted  at  the  coronation  of  Henry  I.  in  1100,  contained 
a  renunciation  of  the  evil  practices  which  had  marked  the  government  of 
William  the  Conqueror  and  William  Rufus.  It  was  from  this  document 
mainly  that  the  barons  in  1215  drew*their  constitutional  programme. 


THE  WINNING  OF  THE  CHARTER  299 

the  confirmation  of  the  aforesaid  liberties  to  them,  and  that 
they  should  in  the  meantime  provide  themselves  with  horses 
and  arms,  so  that  if  the  king  should  endeavor  to  depart  from 
his  oath  they  might,  by  taking  his  castles,  compel  him  to  satisfy 
their  demands;  and  having  arranged  this,  each  man  returned 
home.     .     .     . 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1215,  which  was  the  seventeenth  year 
of  the  reign  of  King  John,  he  held  his  court  at  Winchester  at 
Christmas  for  one  day,  after  which  he  hurried  to  London,  and 
They  demand  took  up  his  abode  at  the  New  Temple;1  and  at 
of  theoldHber-  tnat  P^ace  the  above-mentioned  nobles  came  to 
ties  him  in  gay  military  array,  and  demanded  the 

confirmation  of  the  liberties  and  laws  of  King  Edward,  with 
other  liberties  granted  to  them  and  to  the  kingdom  and  church 
of  England,  as  were  contained  in  the  charter,  and  above-men- 
tioned laws  of  Henry  the  First.  They  also  asserted  that,  at  the 
time  of  his  absolution  at  Winchester,2  he  had  promised  to  re- 
store those  laws  and  ancient  liberties,  and  was  bound  by  his 
own  oath  to  observe  them.  The  king,  hearing  the  bold  tone  of 
the  barons  in  making  this  demand,  much  feared  an  attack  from 
them,  as  he  saw  that  they  were  prepared  for  battle.  He,  how- 
ever, made  answer  that  their  demands  were  a  matter  of  im- 
A  truce  portance   and   difficulty,  and  he  therefore  asked 

arranged  a  truce  until  the  end   of  Easter,  that,  after  due 

deliberation,  he  might  be  able  to  satisfy  them  as  well  as  the 
dignity  of  his  crown.     After  much  discussion  on  both  sides,  the 

i  The  Knights  Templars,  having  purchased  all  that  part  of  the  banks  of 
the  Thames  lying  between  Whitefriars  and  Essex  Street,  erected  on  it  a 
magnificent  structure  which  was  known  as  the  New  Temple,  in  distinction 
from  the  Old  Temple  on  the  south  side  of  Holborn.  Meetings  of  Parliament 
and  of  the  king's  council  were  frequently  held  in  the  New  Temple;  here  also 
were  kept  the  crown  jewels.  Ultimately,  after  the  suppression  of  the  Temp- 
lars by  Edward  II.,  the  Temple  became  one  of  England's  most  celebrated 
schools  of  law. 

2  This  refers  to  the  king's  absolution  at  the  hands  of  Stephen  Langton, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  July  20,  1213,  after  his  submission  to  the  papacy. 
At  that  time  John  took  an  oath  on  the  Bible  to  the  effect  that  he  would  re- 
store the  good  laws  of  his  forefathers  and  render  to  all  men  their  rights. 


300  THE  GREAT  CHARTER 

king  at  length,  although  unwillingly,  procured  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  bishop  of  Ely,  and  William  Marshal,  as  his  sure- 
ties that  on  the  day  agreed  upon  he  would,  in  all  reason,  satisfy 
them  all;  on  which  the  nobles  returned  to  their  homes.  The  king, 
however,  wishing  to  take  precautions  against  the  future,  caused 
all  the  nobles  throughout  England  to  swear  fealty  to  him  alone 
against  all  men,  and  to  renew  their  homage  to  him;  and,  the 
better  to  take  care  of  himself,  on  the  day  of  St.  Mary's  purifica- 
tion, he  assumed  the  cross  of  our  Lord,  being  induced  to  this 
more  by  fear  than  devotion.1     .     .     . 

In  Easter  week  of  this  same  year,  the  above-mentioned  nobles 
assembled  at  Stamford,2  with  horses  and  arms.  They  had  now 
The  truce  induced  almost  all  the  nobility  of  the  whole  king- 

at  an  end  (jom  to  join  them,  and  constituted  a  very  large 

army;  for  in  their  army  there  were  computed  to  be  two  thousand 
knights,  besides  horse-soldiers,  attendants,  and  foot-soldiers,  who 
were  variously  equipped.  .  .  .  The  king  at  this  time  was 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  his  nobles  at  Oxford.3  On  the  Monday 
next  after  the  octave  of  Easter,4  the  said  barons  assembled  in  the 
town  of  Brackley.5  And  when  the  king  learned  this,  he  sent  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  William  Marshal,  earl  of  Pembroke, 
with  some  other  prudent  men,  to  them  to  inquire  what  the  laws 
Th         limi        anc^  ^Der^ies  were  which  they  demanded.      The 

nary  demands  barons  then  delivered  to  the  messengers  a  paper, 
of  the  barons  ...  ,     .  . 

containing  in  great  measure  the  laws  and  ancient 

customs  of  the  kingdom,  and  declared  that,  unless  the  king  immedi- 
ately granted  them  and  confirmed  them  under  his  own  seal,  they, 

1  The  exact  day  upon  which  John  took  the  crusader's  vow  is  uncertain. 
It  was  probably  Ash  Wednesday  (March  4),  1215.  The  king's  object  was  in 
part  to  get  the  personal  protection  which  the  sanctity  of  the  vow  carried  with 
it  and  in  part  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  Pope  and  make  it  appear  that 
the  barons  were  guilty  of  interfering  with  a  crusade. 

2  On  the  southern  border  of  Lincolnshire. 

3  On  the  Thames  in  Oxfordshire.  This  statement  of  the  chronicler  is  in- 
correct.    John  was  yet  in  London. 

4  Octave  means  the  period  of  eight  days  following  a  religious  festival. 
This  Monday  was  April  27. 

5  Brackley  is  about  twenty-two  miles  north  of  Oxford. 


k 


<h 


THE   WINNING   OF   THE   CHARTER  301 

by  taking  possession  of  his  fortresses,  would  force  him  to  give  them 
sufficient  satisfaction  as  to  their  before-named  demands.  The 
archbishop,  with  his  fellow  messengers,  then  carried  the  paper 
to  the  king,  and  read  to  him  the  heads  of  the  paper  one  by  one 
throughout.  The  king,  when  he  heard  the  purport  of  these 
heads,  said  derisively,  with  the  greatest  indignation,  "Why, 
amongst  these  unjust  demands,  did  not  the  barons  ask  for  my 
kingdom  also?  Their  demands  are  vain  and  visionary,  and  are 
unsupported  by  any  plea  of  reason  whatever."  And  at  length 
he  angrily  declared  with  an  oath  that  he  would  never  grant 
them  such  liberties  as  would  render  him  their  slave.  The  prin- 
cipal of  these  laws  and  liberties  which  the  nobles  required  to  be 
confirmed  to  them  are  partly  described  above  in  the  charter  of 
King  Henry,1  and  partly  are  extracted  from  the  old  laws  of 
King  Edward,2  as  the  following  history  will  show  in  due  time. 

As  the  archbishop  and  William  Marshal  could  not  by  any 
persuasion  induce  the  king  to  agree  to  their  demands,  they 
The  castle  of      returned  by  the  king's  order  to  the  barons,  and 

be^gedPbyn  dul^  rePorted  to  them  a11  that  they  had  heard  f rom 
the  barons  the  king.    And  when  the  nobles  heard  what  John 

said,  they  appointed  Robert  Fitz-Walter  commander  of  their 
soldiers,  giving  him  the  title  of  "  Marshal  of  the  Army  of  God 
and  the  Holy  Church,"  and  then,  one  and  all  flying  to  arms,  they 
directed  their  forces  toward  Northampton.3  On  their  arrival 
there  they  at  once  laid  siege  to  the  castle,  but  after  having  stayed 
there  for  fifteen  days,  and  having  gained  little  or  no  advantage, 
they  determined  to  move  their  camp.  Having  come  without 
petrarice  4  and  other  engines  of  war,  they,  without  accomplish- 
ing their  purpose,  proceeded  in  confusion  to  the  castle  of  Bed- 
ford.5    .     .     . 

When  the  army  of  the  barons  arrived  at  Bedford,  they  were 

1  Henry  I.'s  charter,  1100. 

2  Edward  the  Confessor,  king  from  1042  to  1066. 

3  In  the  county  of  Northampton,  in  central  England. 

4  Engines  for  hurling  stones. 

s  About  twenty  miles  southeast  of  Northampton. 


302  THE    GREAT   CHARTER 

received  with  all  respect  by  William  de  Beauchamp.1  Messen- 
gers from  the  city  of  London  also  came  to  them  there,  secretly 
telling  them,  if  they  wished  to  get  into  that  city,  to  come  there 
immediately.  The  barons,  encouraged  by  the  arrival  of  this 
agreeable  message,  immediately  moved  their  camp  and  arrived 
The  city  of  at  Ware.  After  this  they  marched  the  whole 
over  to  the611  night  and  arrived  early  in  the  morning  at  the  city 
barons  0f  London,  and,  finding  the  gates  open,  on  the 

24th  of  May  (which  was  the  Sunday  next  before  our  Lord's 
ascension)  they  entered  the  city  without  any  tumult  while  the 
inhabitants  were  performing  divine  service;  for  the  rich  citizens 
were  favorable  to  the  barons,  and  the  poor  ones  were  afraid  to 
murmur  against  them.  The  barons,  having  thus  got  into  the  city, 
placed  their  own  guards  in  charge  of  each  of  the  gates,  and  then 
arranged  all  matters  in  the  city  at  will.2  They  then  took  security 
from  the  citizens,  and  sent  letters  through  England  to  those 
earls,  barons,  and  knights  who  appeared  to  be  still  faithful  to 
the  king  (though  they  only  pretended  to  be  so)  and  advised  them 
with  threats,  as  they  had  regard  for  the  safety  of  all  their  prop- 
erty and  possessions,  to  abandon  a  king  who  was  perjured  and 
who  made  war  against  his  barons,  and  together  with  them  to 
stand  firm  and  fight  against  the  king  for  their  rights  and  for 
peace;  and  that,  if  they  refused  to  do  this,  they,  the  barons, 
would  make  war  against  them  all,  as  against  open  enemies,  and 
would  destroy  their  castles,  burn  their  houses  and  other  build- 
ings, and  pillage  their  warrens,  parks,  and  orchards.  .  .  . 
The  greatest  part  of  these,  on  receiving  the  message  of  the 
barons,  set  out  to  London  and  joined  them,  abandoning  the 
king  entirely.     .     .     . 

King  John,  when  he  saw  that  he  was  deserted  by  almost  all, 
so  that  out  of  his  regal  superabundance  of  followers  he  retained 

1  The  commander  of  Bedford  Castle. 

2  The  loss  of  London  by  the  king  was  a  turning  point  in  the  contest. 
Thereafter  the  barons'  party  gained  rapidly  and  its  complete  success  was 
only  a  question  of  time. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  CHARTER  303 

scarcely  seven  knights,  was  much  alarmed  lest  the  barons  should 
attack  his  castles  and  reduce  them  without  difficulty,  as  they 
The  conference  would  find  no  obstacle  to  their  so  doing.  He 
kSiJandthe  deceitfully  pretended  to  make  peace  for  a  time 
barons  with    the    aforesaid    barons,    and    sent    William 

Marshal,  earl  of  Pembroke,  with  other  trustworthy  messengers, 
to  them,  and  told  them  that,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  for  the 
exaltation  and  honor  of  the  kingdom,  he  would  willingly  grant 
them  the  laws  and  liberties  they  demanded.  He  sent  also  a  re- 
quest to  the  barons  by  these  same  messengers  that  they  appoint 
a  suitable  day  and  place  to  meet  and  carry  all  these  matters  into 
effect.  The  king's  messengers  then  came  in  all  haste  to  London, 
and  without  deceit,  reported  to  the  barons  all  that  had  been  de- 
ceitfully imposed  on  them.  They  in  their  great  joy  appointed 
the  fifteenth  of  June  for  the  king  to  meet  them,  at  a  field  lying 
The  charter  between  Staines  and  Windsor.1  Accordingly,  at 
granted  at  the  time  and  place  agreed  upon  the  king  and  nobles 

came  to  the  appointed  conference,  and  when  each 
party  had  stationed  itself  some  distance  from  the  other,  they 
began  a  long  discussion  about  terms  of  peace  and  the  aforesaid 
liberties.  ...  At  length,  after  various  points  on  both  sides 
had  been  discussed,  King  John,  seeing  that  he  was  inferior  in 
strength  to  the  barons,  without  raising  any  difficulty,  granted  the 
underwritten  laws  and  liberties,  and  confirmed  them  by  his  char- 
ter as  follows: — 

[Here  ensues  the  Charter.] 

55.   Extracts  from  the  Charter 

No  document  in  the  history  of  any  nation  is  more  important  than  the 
Great  Charter;  in  the  words  of  Bishop  Stubbs,  the  whole  of  the  con- 
stitutional history  of  England  is  only  one  long  commentary  upon  it.  Its 
importance  lay  not  merely  in  the  fact  that  it  was  won  from  an  unwilling 
sovereign  by  the  united  action  of  nobles,  clergy,  and  people,  but  also  in 

%         »  Runnymede,  on  the  Thames. 


304  THE   GREAT  CHARTER 

the  admirable  summary  which  it  embodies  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  English  government,  so  far  as  they  had  ripened  by  the  early  years  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  charter  contained  almost  nothing  that 
was  not  old.  It  was  not  even  an  instrument,  like  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  providing  for  the  creation  of  a  new  government.  It 
merely  sought  to  gather  up  within  a  single  reasonably  brief  document  all 
the  important  principles  which  the  best  of  the  English  sovereigns  had 
recognized,  but  which  such  rulers  as  Richard  and  John  had  lately  been 
improving  every  opportunity  to  evade.  The  primary  purpose  of  the 
barons  in  forcing  the  king  to  grant  the  charter  was  not  to  get  a  new 
form  of  government  or  code  of  laws,  but  simply  to  obtain  a  remedy 
for  certain  concrete  abuses,  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  the  crown 
upon  the  traditional  liberties  of  Englishmen,  and  to  get  a  full  and  defi- 
nite confirmation  of  these  liberties  in  black  and  white.  Not  a  new  con- 
stitution was  wanted,  but  good  government  in  conformity  with  the  old 
one.  Naturally  enough,  therefore,  the  charter  of  1215  was  based  in 
most  of  its  important  provisions  upon  that  granted  by  Henry  I.  in  1100, 
even  as  this  one  was  based  on  the  righteous  laws  of  the  good  Edward 
the  Confessor.  And  after  the  same  manner  the  charter  of  King  John,  in 
its  turn,  became  the  foundation  for  all  future  resistance  of  English- 
men to  the  evils  of  misgovernment,  so  that  very  soon  it  came  naturally 
to  be  called  Magna  Charta — the  Great  Charter — by  which  designation 
it  is  known  to  this  day. 

King  John  was  in  no  true  sense  the  author  of  the  charter.  Many 
weeks  before  the  meeting  at  Runnymede  the  barons  had  drawn  up  their 
demands  in  written  form,  and  when  that  meeting  occurred  they  were 
ready  to  lay  before  the  sovereign  a  formal  document,  in  forty-nine 
chapters,  to  which  they  simply  requested  his  assent.  This  preliminary 
document  was  discussed  and  worked  over,  the  number  of  chapters 
being  increased  to  sixty-two,  but  the  charter  as  finally  agreed  upon 
differed  from  it  only  in  minor  details.  It  is  a  mistake  to  think  of  John 
as  "signing"  the  charter  after  the  fashion  of  modern  sovereigns.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  he  could  write,  and  at  any  rate  he  acquiesced  in  the 
terms  of  the  charter  only  by  having  his  seal  affixed  to  the  paper.  The 
original  "  Articles  of  the  Barons  "  is  still  preserved  in  the  British  Museum, 
but  there  is  no  one  original  Magna  Charta  in  existence.  Duplicate  copies 
of  the  document  were  made  for  distribution  among  tfie  barons,  and 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  CHARTER  305 

papers  which  are  generally  supposed  to  represent  four  of  these  still 
exist,  two  being  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  charter  makes  a  lengthy  document  and  many  parts  of  it  are  too 
technical  to  be  of  service  in  this  book;  hence  only  a  few  of  the  most  im- 
portant chapters  are  here  given.  Translations  of  the  entire  document 
from  the  original  Latin  may  be  found  in  many  places,  among  them  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  I.,  No.  6; 
Lee,  Source  Book  of  English  History,  169-180;  Adams  and  Stephens, 
Select  Documents  Illustrative  of  English  Constitutional  History,  pp.  42-52; 
and  the  Old  South  Leaflets,  No.  5. 

Source — Text  in  William  Stubbs,  Select  Charters  Illustrative  of  English  Con- 
stitutional History  (8th  ed.,  Oxford,  1895),  pp.  296-306.  Adapted 
from  translation  in  Sheldon  Amos,  Primer  of  the  English  Constitu- 
tion and  Government  (London,  1895),  pp.  189-201    passim. 

John,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  England,  lord  of  Ireland, 
duke  of  Normandy,  Aquitane,  and  count  of  Anjou,  to  his  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  abbots,  earls,  barons,  justiciaries,  foresters, 
sheriffs,  governors,  officers,  and  to  all  bailiffs,  and  his  faithful 
subjects,  greeting.  Know  ye,  that  we,  in  the  presence  of  God, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  our  soul,  and  the  souls  of  all  our  an- 
cestors and  heirs,  and  unto  the  honor  of  God  and  the  advance- 
ment of  Holy  Church,  and  amendment  of  our  Realm,  .  ,  . 
have,  in  the  first  place,  granted  to  God,  and  by  this  our  present 
Charter  confirmed,  for  us  and  our  heirs  forever: 

1.  That  the  Church  of  England  shall  be  free,  and  have  her 
whole  rights,  and  her  liberties  inviolable;  and  we  will  have  them 
,.,  .  -  .  so  observed  that  it  may  appear  thence  that  the  free- 
English  Church  dom  of  elections,  which  is  reckoned  chief  and  indis- 
pensable to  the  English  Church,  and  which  we 
granted  and  confirmed  by  our  Charter,  and  obtained  the  con- 
firmation of  the  same  from  our  Lord  Pope  Innocent  III.,  be- 
fore the  discord  between  us  and  our  barons,  was  granted  of 
mere  free  will;  which  Charter  we  shall  observe,  and  we  do  de- 
sire it  to  be  faithfully  observed  by  our  heirs  forever.1 

1  The  charter  referred  to,  in  which  the  liberties  of  the  Church  were  con- 
Med.  Hist.— 20 


306  THE   GREAT  CHARTER 

2.  We  also  have  granted  to  all  the  freemen  of  our  kingdom, 
for  us  and  for  our  heirs  forever,  all  the  underwritten  liberties, 
to  be  had  and  holden  by  them  and  their  heirs,  of  us  and  our 
heirs  forever.  If  any  of  our  earls,  or  barons,  or  others  who  hold 
of  us  in  chief  by  military  service,1  shall  die,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
The  rate  death  his  heir  shall  be  of  full  age,  and  owe  a  re- 
al reliefs  lief,  he  shall  have  his  inheritance  by  the  ancient 
relief — that  is  to  say,  the  heir  or  heirs  of  an  earl,  for  a  whole 
earldom,  by  a  hundred  pounds;  the  heir  or  heirs  of  a  knight,  for 
a  whole  knight's  fee,  by  a  hundred  shillings  at  most;  and  who- 
ever oweth  less  shall  give  less,  according  to  the  ancient  custom 
of  fees.2 

3.  But  if  the  heir  of  any  such  shall  be  under  age,  and  shall 
be  in  ward,  when  he  comes  of  age  he  shall  have  his  inheritance 
without  relief  and  without  fine.3 

12.  No  scutage  4  or  aid  shall  be  imposed  in  our  kingdom,  un- 
The  three  less  by  the  general  council  of  our  kingdom;  5  ex- 

aids  cept  for  ransoming  our  person,  making  our  eldest 

son  a  knight,  and  once  for  marrying  our  eldest  daughter;  and  for 

firmed,  was  granted  in  November,  1214,  and  renewed  in  January,  1215. 
It  was  in  the  nature  of  a  bribe  offered  the  clergy  by  the  king  in  the  hope  of 
winning  their  support  in  his  struggle  with  the  barons.  The  liberty  granted 
was  particularly  that  of  "canonical  election,"  i.  e.,  the  privilege  of  Dhe  cathe- 
dral chapters  to  elect  bishops  without  being  dominated  in  their  choice  by 
the  king.  Henry  I.'s  charter  (1100)  contained  a  similar  provision,  but  it 
had  not  been  observed  in  practice. 

1  Tenants  in  capite,  i.  e.,  men  holding  land  directly  from  the  king  on  con- 
dition of  military  service. 

2  The  object  of  this  chapter  is,  in  general,  to  prevent  the  exaction  of  exces- 
sive reliefs.  The  provision  of  Henry  I.'s  charter  that  reliefs  should  be  just 
and  reasonable  had  become  a  dead  letter. 

3  During  the  heir's  minority  the  king  received  the  profits  of  the  estate; 
in  consequence  of  this  the  payment  of  relief  by  such  an  heir  was  to  be 
remitted. 

4  Scutage  (from  scutum,  shield)  was  payment  made  to  the  king  by  persons 
who  owed  military  service  but  preferred  to  give  money  instead.  Scutage 
levied  by  John  had  been  excessively  heavy. 

s  The  General,  or  Great,  Council  was  a  feudal  body  made  up  of  the  king's 
tenants-in-chief,  both  greater  and  lesser  lords.  This  chapter  puts  a  definite, 
even  though  not  very  far-reaching,  limitation  upon  the  royal  power  of  taxa- 
tion, and  so  looks  forward  in  away  to  the  later  regime  of  taxation  by 
Parliament. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  CHARTER  307 

these  there  shall  be  paid  no  more  than  a  reasonable  aid.    In  like 
manner  it  shall  be  concerning  the  aids  of  the  City  of  London.1 

14.  And  for  holding  the  general  council  of  the  kingdom  con- 
cerning the  assessment  of  aids,  except  in  the  three  cases  afore- 
said, and  for  the  assessing  of  scutage,  we  shall  cause  to  be  sum- 
moned the  archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  earls,  and  greater  barons 
of  the  realm,  singly  by  our  letters.  And  furthermore,  we  shall 
The  Great  cause  to  be  summoned  generally,  by  our  sheriffs 
Council  anci  bailiffs,  all  others  who  hold  of  us  in  chief,  for 
a  certain  day,  that  is  to  say,  forty  days  before  their  meeting  at 
least,  and  to  a  certain  place.  And  in  all  letters  of  such  summons 
we  will  declare  the  cause  of  such  summons.  And  summons  being 
thus  made,  the  business  shall  proceed  on  the  day  appointed, 
according  to  the  advice  of  such  as  shall  be  present,  although  all 
that  were  summoned  come  not.2 

15.  We  will  not  in  the  future  grant  to  any  one  that  he  may 
take  aid  of  his  own  free  tenants,  except  to  ransom  his  body,  and 
to  make  his  eldest  son  a  knight,  and  once  to  marry  his  eldest 
daughter;  and  for  this  there  shall  be  paid  only  a  reasonable 
aid.3 

36.  Nothing  from  henceforth  shall  be  given  or  taken  for  a 
writ  of  inquisition  of  life  or  limb,  but  it  shall  be  granted  freely, 
and  not  denied.4 

i  London  had  helped  the  barons  secure  the  charter  and  was  rewarded  by 
being  specifically  included  in  its  provisions. 

2  Here  we  have  a  definite  statement  as  to  the  composition  of  the  Great 
Council.  The  distinction  between  greater  and  lesser  barons  is  mentioned 
as  early  as  the  times  of  Henry  I.  (1100-1135).  In  a  genera]  way  it  may  be 
said  that  the  greater  barons  (together  with  the  greater  clergy)  developed  into 
the  House  of  Lords  and  the  lesser  ones,  along  with  the  ordinary  free-holders, 
became  the  "knights  of  the  shire,"  who  so  long  made  up  the  backbone 
of  the  Commons.  In  the  thirteenth  century  comparatively  few  of  the  lesser 
barons  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Council.  Attendance  was  expensive 
and  they  were  not  greatly  interested  in  the  body's  proceedings.  It  should 
be  noted  that  the  Great  Council  was  in  no  sense  a  legislative  assembly. 

3  It  is  significant  that  the  provisions  of  the  charter  which  prohibit  feudal 
exactions  were  made  by  the  barons  to  apply  to  themselves  as  well  as  to  the 
king. 

4  This  is  an  important  legal  enactment  whose  purpose  is  to  prevent  pro- 
longed imprisonment,  without  trial,  of  persons  accused  of  serious  crime. 


308  THE   GREAT  CHARTER 

39.  No  freeman  shall  be  taken  or  imprisoned,  or  disseised,1  or 
outlawed,2  or  banished,  or  in  any  way  destroyed,  nor  will  we  pass 
upon  him,  nor  will  we  send  upon  him,3  unless  by  the  lawful  judg- 
ment of  his  peers,4  or  by  the  law  of  the  land.5 

40.  We  will  sell  to  no  man,  we  will  not  deny  to  any  man, 
either  justice  or  right.6 

41.  All  merchants  shall  have  safe  and  secure  conduct  to  go 
out  of,  and  to  come  into,  England,  and  to  stay  there  and  to  pass 
as  well  by  land  as  by  water,  for  buying  and  selling  by  the  ancient 
and  allowed  customs,  without  any  unjust  tolls,  except  in  time 

Freedom  of  °^  war>  or  wnen  tne^  are  °^  an^  nation  at  war 
commercial  with  us.  And  if  there  be  found  any  such  in  our 
land,  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  they  shall  be 
detained,  without  damage  to  their  bodies  or  goods,  until  it  be 
known  to  us,  or  to  our  chief  justiciary,  how  our  merchants  be 


A  person  accused  of  murder,  for  example,  could  not  be  set  at  liberty  under 
bail,  but  he  could  apply  for  a  writ  de  odio  et  dtia  ("concerning  hatred  and 
malice")  which  directed  the  sheriff  to  make  inquest  by  jury  as  to  whether 
the  accusation  had  been  brought  by  reason  of  hatred  and  malice.  If  the  jury 
decided  that  the  accusation  had  been  so  brought,  the  accused  person  could 
be  admitted  to  bail  until  the  time  for  his  regular  trial.  This  will  occur  to  one 
as  being  very  similar  to  the  principle  of  habeas  corpus.  John  had  been 
charging  heavy  fees  for  these  writs  de  odio  et  dtia,  or  "writs  of  inquisition  of 
life  and  limb,"  as  they  are  called  in  the  charter;  henceforth  they  were  to  be 
issued  freely. 

1  To  disseise  a  person  is  to  dispossess  him  of  his  freehold  rights. 

2  Henceforth  a  person  could  be  outlawed,  i.  e.,  declared  out  of  the  protec- 
tion of  the  law,  only  by  the  regular  courts. 

3  That  is,  use  force  upon  him,  as  John  had  frequently  done. 

*  The  term  "peers,"  as  here  used,  means  simply  equals  in  rank.  The 
present  clause  does  not  yet  imply  trial  by  jury  in  the  modern  sense.  It 
comprises  simply  a  narrow,  feudal  demand  of  the  nobles  to  be  judged  by 
other  nobles,  rather  than  by  lawyers  or  clerks.  Jury  trial  was  increas- 
ingly common  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  it  was  not  guaranteed  in  the 
Great  Charter. 

5  This  chapter  is  commonly  regarded  as  the  most  important  in  the  charter. 
It  undertakes  to  prevent  arbitrary  imprisonment  and  to  protect  private 
property  by  laying  down  a  fundamental  principle  of  government  which  John 
had  been  constantly  violating  and  which  very  clearly  marked  the  line  of 
distinction  between  a  limited  and  an  absolute  monarchy. 

0  The  principle  is  here  asserted  that  justice  in  the  courts  should  be  open  to 
all,  and  without  the  payment  of  money  to  get  judgment  hastened  or  delayed. 
Extortions  of  this  character  did  not  cease  in  1215,  but  they  became  less  exor- 
bitant and  arbitrary. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  CHARTER  309 

treated  in  the  nation  at  war  with  us;  and  if  ours  be  safe  there, 
the  others  shall  be  safe  in  our  dominions.1 

42.  It  shall  be  lawful,  for  the  time  to  come,  for  any  one  to  go 
out  of  our  kingdom  and  return  safely  and  securely  by  land  or 
by  water,  saving  his  allegiance  to  us  (unless  in  time  of  war,  by 
some  short  space,  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  realm),  except 
prisoners  and  outlaws,  according  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and 
people  in  war  with  us,  and  merchants  who  shall  be  treated  as  is 
above  mentioned.2 

51.  As  soon  as  peace  is  restored,  we  will  send  out  of  the  king- 
dom all  foreign  knights,  cross-bowmen,  and  stipendiaries,  who 
are  come  with  horses  and  arms  to  the  molestation  of  our  people.3 

60.  All  the  aforesaid  customs  and  liberties,  which  we  have 
granted  to  be  holden  in  our  kingdom,  as  much  as  it  belongs  to 
us,  all  people  of  our  kingdom,  as  well  clergy  as  laity,  shall  ob- 
serve, as  far  as  they  are  concerned,  towards  their  dependents.4 

61.  And  whereas,  for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  amendment 
of  our  kingdom,  and  for  the  better  quieting  the  discord  that 
How  the  char-  ^as  arisen  between  us  and  our  barons,  we  have 
ter  was  to  be      granted  all  these  things  aforesaid.      Willing  to 

render  them  firm  and  lasting,  we  do  give  and  grant 
our  subjects  the  underwritten  security,  namely,  that  the  barons 

1  The  object  of  this  chapter  is  to  encourage  commerce  by  guaranteeing 
foreign  merchants  the  same  treatment  that  English  merchants  received  in 
foreign  countries.  The  tolls  imposed  on  traders  by  the  cities,  however, 
were  not  affected  and  they  continued  a  serious  obstacle  for  some  centuries. 

2  This  chapter  provides  that,  except  under  the  special  circumstances  of  war, 
any  law-abiding  Englishman  might  go  abroad  freely,  provided  only  he  should 
remain  loyal  to  the  English  crown.  The  rule  thus  established  continued  in 
effect  until  1382,  when  it  was  enacted  that  such  privileges  should  belong 
only  to  lords,  merchants,  and  soldiers. 

3  During  the  struggle  with  the  barons,  John  had  brought  in  a  number  of 
foreign  mercenary  soldiers  or  "stipendiaries."  All  classes  of  Englishmen 
resented  this  policy  and  the  barons  improved  the  opportunity  offered  by 
the  charter  to  get  a  promise  from  the  king  to  dispense  with  his  continental 
mercenaries  as  quickly  as  possible. 

4  This  chapter  provides  that  the  charter's  regulation  of  feudal  customs 
should  apply  to  the  barons  just  as  to  the  king.  The  barons'  tenants  were  to 
be  protected  from  oppression  precisely  as  were  the  barons  themselves. 
These  tenants  had  helped  in  the  winning  of  the  charter  and  were  thus  re- 
warded for  their  services. 


310  THE   GREAT  CHARTER 

may  choose  five  and  twenty  barons  of  the  kingdom,  whom  they 
think  convenient,  who  shall  take  care,  with  all  their  might,  to 
hold  and  observe,  and  cause  to  be  observed,  the  peace  and  liberties 
we  have  granted  them,  and  by  this  our  present  Charter  con- 
firmed.1    ... 

63.  .  .  .  It  is  also  sworn,  as  well  on  our  part  as  on  the 
part  of  the  barons,  that  all  the  things  aforesaid  shall  be  observed 
in  good  faith,  and  without  evil  duplicity.  Given  under  our  hand, 
in  the  presence  of  the  witnesses  above  named,  and  many  others, 
in  the  meadow  called  Runnymede,  between  Windsor  and  Staines, 
the  15th  day  of  June,  in  the  17th  year  of  our  reign. 

iThe  chapter  goes  on  at  considerable  length  to  specify  the  manner  in 
which,  if  the  king  should  violate  the  terms  of  the  charter,  the  commission  of 
twenty-five  barons  should  proceed  to  bring  him  to  account.  Even  the  right 
of  making  war  was  given  them,  in  case  it  should  become  necessary  to  resort 
to  such  an  extreme  measure. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  REIGN  OF  SAINT  LOUIS 

56.   The  Character  and  Deeds  of  the  King  as  Described  by  Joinville 

Louis  IX.,  or  St.  Louis,  as  he  is  commonly  called,  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Louis  VIII.  and  a  grandson  of  Philip  Augustus.  He  was  born  in  1214 
and  upon  the  death  of  his  father  in  1226  he  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
France  while  yet  but  a  boy  of  twelve.  The  recent  reign  of  Philip  Au- 
gustus (1180-1223)  had  been  a  period  marked  by  a  great  increase  in 
the  royal  power  and  by  a  corresponding  lessening  of  the  independent 
authority  of  the  feudal  magnates.  The  accession  of  a  boy-king  was 
therefore  hailed  by  the  discontented  nobles  as  an  opportunity  to  recover 
something  at  least  of  their  lost  privileges.  It  would  doubtless  have  been 
such  but  for  the  vigilance,  ability,  and  masculine  aggressiveness  of  the 
young  king's  mother,  Blanche  of  Castile.  Aided  by  the  clergy  and  the 
loyal  party  among  the  nobles,  she,  in  the  capacity  of  regent,  successfully 
defended  her  son's  interests  against  a  succession  of  plots  and  uprisings, 
with  the  result  that  when  Louis  gradually  assumed  control  of  affairs  in 
his  own  name,  about  1236,  the  realm  was  in  good  order  and  the  dangers 
which  once  had  been  so  threatening  had  all  but  disappeared.  The  king's 
education  and  moral  training  had  been  well  attended  to,  and  he  arrived 
at  manhood  with  an  equipment  quite  unusual  among  princes  of  his  day. 
His  reign  extended  to  1270  and  became  in  some  respects  the  most  notable 
in  all  French  history.  In  fact,  whether  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
his  personal  character  or  his  practical  achievements,  St.  Louis  is 
generally  admitted  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  remarkable  sovereigns 
of  mediaeval  Europe.  He  was  famous  throughout  Christendom  for  his 
piety,  justice,  wisdom,  and  ability,  being  recognized  as  at  once  a  devoted 
monk,  a  brave  knight,  and  a  capable  king.  In  him  were  blended  two 
qualities — vigorous  activity  and  proneness  to  austere  meditation — 
rarely  combined  in  such  measure  in  one  person.     His  character  may 

311 


312  THE  REIGN   OF  SAINT  LOUIS 

be  summed  up  by  saying  that  he  had  all  the  virtues  of  his  age  and  few 
of  its  vices.  No  less  cynical  a  critic  than  Voltaire  has  declared  that  he 
went  as  far  in  goodness  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  go. 

Saint  Louis  being  thus  so  interesting  a  character  in  himself,  it  is  very 
fortunate  that  we  have  an  excellent  contemporary  biography  of  him, 
from  the  hand  of  a  friend  and  companion  who  knew  him  well.  Sire  de 
Joinville's  Histoire  de  Saint  Louis  is  a  classic  of  French  literature  and 
in  most  respects  the  best  piece  of  biographical  writing  that  has  come 
down  to  us  from  the  Middle  Ages.  Joinville,  or  more  properly  John, 
lord  of  Joinville,  was  born  in  Champagne,  in  northern  France,  probably 
in  1225.  His  family  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  in  Champagne 
and  he  himself  had  all  the  advantages  that  could  come  from  being 
brought  up  at  the  refined  court  of  the  count  of  this  favored  district.  In 
1248,  when  St.  Louis  set  out  on  his  first  crusading  expedition,  Join- 
ville, only  recently  become  of  age,  took  the  cross  and  became  a  follower 
of  the  king,  joining  him  in  Cyprus  and  there  first  definitely  entering 
his  service.  During  the  next  six  years  the  two  were  inseparable  com- 
panions, and  even  after  Joinville,  in  1254,  retired  from  the  king's  service 
in  order  to  manage  his  estates  in  Champagne  he  long  continued  to  make 
frequent  visits  of  a  social  character  to  the  court. 

Joinville's  memoirs  of  St.  Louis  were  completed  about  1309 — proba- 
bly nine  years  before  the  death  of  the  author — and  they  were  first 
published  soon  after  the  death  of  Philip  the  Fair  in  1314.  They  consti- 
tute by  far  the  most  important  source  of  information  on  the  history  of 
France  in  the  middle  portion  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Joinville  had 
the  great  advantage  of  intimate  acquaintance  and  long  association  with 
King  Louis  and,  what  is  equally  important,  he  seems  to  have  tried  to 
write  in  a  spirit  of  perfect  fairness  and  justice.  He  was  an  ardent 
admirer  of  Louis,  but  his  biography  did  not  fall  into  the  tempting  chan- 
nel of  mere  fulsome  and  indiscriminate  praise.  Moreover,  the  work  is  a 
biography  of  the  only  really  satisfactory  type ;  it  is  not  taken  up  with  a 
bare  recital  of  events  in  the  life  of  the  individual  under  consideration, 
but  it  has  a  broad  background  drawn  from  the  general  historical  move- 
ments and  conditions  of  the  time.  Its  most  obvious  defects  arise  from 
the  fact  that  it  comprises  largely  the  reminiscences  of  an  old  man,  which 
are  never  likely  to  be  entirely  accurate  or  well-balanced.  In  his  dedica- 
tion of  the  treatise  to  Louis,  eldest  son  of  Philip  IV.,  the  author  relates 


THE   CHARACTER   AND   DEEDS   OF   THE   KING  313 

that  it  had  been  written  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  deceased  king's 
widow. 

The  biography  in  print  makes  a  good-sized  volume  and  it  is  possible, 
of  course,  to  reproduce  here  but  a  few  significant  passages  from  it. 
But  these  are  perhaps  sufficient  to  show  what  sort  of  man  the  saint- 
king  really  was,  and  it  is  just  this  insight  into  the  character  of  the 
men  of  the  Middle  Ages  that  is  most  worth  getting — and  the  hardest 
thing,  as  a  rule,  to  get.  Incidentally,  the  extract  throws  some  light 
on  the  methods  of  warfare  employed  by  the  crusaders  and  the  Turks. 

Source — Jean,  Sire  de  Joinville,  Histoire  de  Saint  Louis.  Text  edited  by 
M.  Joseph  Noel  (Natalis  de  Wailly)  and  published  by  the  Soctete* 
de  PHistoire  de  France  (Paris,  1868).  Translated  by  James 
Hutton  under  title  of  Saint  Louis,  King  of  France  (London,  1868), 
passim. 

As  I  have  heard  him  say,  he  [Saint  Louis]  was  born  on  the  day 
of  St.  Mark  the  Evangelist,1  shortly  after  Easter.  On  that  day 
The  king's  the  cross  is  carried  in  procession  in  many  places, 

birth  and  in  France  they  are  called  black  crosses.     It 

was  therefore  a  sort  of  prophecy  of  the  great  numbers  of  people 
who  perished  in  those  two  crusades,  i.e.,  in  that  to  Egypt,  and  in 
that  other,  in  the  course  of  which  he  died  at  Carthage; 2  for  many 
great  sorrows  were  there  on  that  account  in  this  world,  and  many 
great  joys  are  there  now  in  Paradise  on  the  part  of  those  who  in 
those  two  pilgrimages  died  true  crusaders. 

God,  in  whom  he  put  his  trust,  preserved  him  ever  from  his 
infancy  to  the  very  last;  and  especially  in  his  infancy  did  He 
preserve  him  when  he  stood  in  need  of  help,  as  you  will  presently 
His  early  hear.     As  for  his  soul,  God  preserved  it  through 

training  ftie  pious  instructions  of  his  mother,  who  taught 

him  to  believe  in  God  and  to  love  Him,  and  placed  about  him 

i  April  25,  1215. 

2  Louis  started  on  his  first  crusade  in  August,  1248.  After  a  series  of  dis- 
asters in  Egypt  he  managed  to  reach  the  Holy  Land,  where  he  spent  nearly 
four  years  fortifying  the  great  seaports.  He  returned  to  France  in  July,  1254. 
Sixteen  years  later,  in  July,  1270,  he  started  on  his  second  crusade.  He  had 
but  reached  Carthage  when  he  was  suddenly  taken  ill  and  compelled  to  halt 
the  expedition.  He  died  there  August  25,  1270.  Louis  was  as  typical  a 
crusader  as  ever  lived,  but  in  his  day  men  of  his  kind  were  few;  the  great  era 
of  crusading  enterprise  was  past. 


314  THE   REIGN    OF  SAINT   LOUIS 

none  but  ministers  of  religion.  And  she  made  him,  while  he  was 
yet  a  child,  attend  to  all  his  prayers  and  listen  to  the  sermons 
on  saints'  days.  He  remembered  that  his  mother  used  some- 
times to  tell  him  that  she  would  rather  he  were  dead  than  that 
he  should  commit  a  deadly  sin. 

Sore  need  of  God's  help  had  he  in  his  youth,  for  his  mother, 
who  came  out  of  Spain,  had  neither  relatives  nor  friends  in  all 
the  realm  of  France.  And  because  the  barons  of  France  saw  that 
the  king  was  an  infant,  and  the  queen,  his  mother,  a  foreigner, 
they  made  the  count  of  Boulogne,  the  king's  uncle,  their  chief, 
and  looked  up  to  him  as  their  lord.1  After  the  king  was  crowned, 
Diffi  If  s  t  some  °f  ^ne  barons  asked  of  the  queen  to  bestow 
the  beginning  upon  them  large  domains;  and  because  she  would 
do  nothing  of  the  kind  all  the  barons  assembled 
at  Corbei.2  And  the  sainted  king  related  to  me  how  neither 
he  nor  his  mother,  who  were  at  Montlheri,3  dared  to  return  to 
Paris,  until  the  citizens  of  Paris  came,  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
to  escort  them.  He  told  me,  too,  that  from  Montlheri  to  Paris 
the  road  was  filled  with  people,  some  with  and  some  without 
weapons,  and  that  all  cried  unto  our  Lord  to  give  him  a  long 
and  happy  life,  and  to  defend  and  preserve  him  from  his 
enemies.     .     .     . 

After  these  things  it  chanced,  as  it  pleased  God,  that  great 
illness  fell  upon  the  king  at  Paris,  by  which  he  was  brought  to 
such  extremity  that  one  of  the  women  who  watched  by  his  side 
wanted  to  draw  the  sheet  over  his  face,  saying  that  he  was  dead ; 
but  another  woman,  who  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed, 
would  not  suffer  it,  for  the  soul,  she  said,  had  not  yet  left  the 
Louis  takes  body.  While  he  was  listening  to  the  dispute  be- 
the  cross  tween  these  two,  our  Lord  wrought  upon  him  and 

quickly  sent  him  health;  for  before  that  he  was  dumb,  and  could 

*  This  was  Philip,  son  of  Philip  Augustus.    The  lands  of  the  count  of  Bou- 
logne lay  on  the  coast  of  the  English  Channel  north  of  the  Somme. 
a  An  important  church  center  about  seventy  miles  north  of  Paris. 
3  A  town  a  few  miles  south  of  Paris. 


THE    CHARACTER   AND    DEEDS  OF   THE   KING  315 

not  speak.  He  demanded  that  the  cross  should  be  given  to 
him,  and  it  was  done.  When  the  queen,  his  mother,  heard  that 
he  had  recovered  his  speech,  she  exhibited  as  much  joy  as  could 
be;  but  when  she  was  told  by  himself  that  he  had  taken  the  cross, 
she  displayed  as  much  grief  as  if  she  had  seen  him  dead. 

After  the  king  put  on  the  cross,  Robert,  count  of  Artois, 
Alphonse,  count  of  Poitiers,  Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  who  was 
afterwards  king  of  Sicily — all  three  brothers  of  the  king — also 
took  the  cross;  as  likewise  did  Hugh,  duke  of  Burgundy,  William, 
count  of  Flanders  (brother  to  Count  Guy  of  Flanders,  the  last 
who  died),  the  good  Hugh,  count  of  Saint  Pol,  and  Monseigneur 
Prominent  Walter,  his  nephew,  who  bore  himself  right  man- 

whTfoUow^d  ^uuy  beyond  seas,  and  would  have  been  of  great 
his  example  worth  had  he  lived.  There  was  also  the  count  of 
La  Marche,  and  Monseigneur  Hugh  le  Brun,  his  son;  the  count 
of  Sarrebourg,  and  Monseigneur  d'Apremont,  his  brother,  in 
whose  company  I  myself,  John,  Seigneur  de  Joinville,  crossed 
the  sea  in  a  ship  we  chartered,  because  we  were  cousins;  and  we 
crossed  over  in  all  twenty  knights,  nine  of  whom  followed  the 
count  of  Sarrebourg,  and  nine  were  with  me.     .     .     . 

The  king  summoned  his  barons  to  Paris,  and  made  them 
swear  to  keep  faith  and  loyalty  towards  his  children  if  anything 
happened  to  himself  on  the  voyage.  He  asked  the  same  of  me, 
but  I  refused  to  take  any  oath,  because  I  was  not  his  vas- 
sal.    .     .     . 

In  the  month  of  August  we  went  on  board  our  ships  at  the 
Rock  of  Marseilles.  The  day  we  embarked  the  door  of  the  vessel 
Embarkins-  on  was  °Pened>  an<^  the  norses  that  we  were  to  take 
the  Mediter-  with  us  were  led  inside.  Then  they  fastened  the 
door  and  closed  it  up  tightly,  as  when  one  sinks  a 
cask,  because  when  the  ship  is  at  sea  the  whole  of  the  door  is 
under  water.  When  the  horses  were  in,  our  sailing-master 
called  out  to  his  mariners  who  were  at  the  prow:  "Are  you  all 
ready?"     And  they  replied:  "Sir,  let  the  clerks  and  priests  come 


316  THE   REIGN  OF  SAINT  LOUIS 

forward."  As  soon  as  they  had  come  nigh,  he  shouted  to  them: 
" Chant,  in  God's  name!"  And  they  with  one  voice  chanted, 
"  Veni,  Creator  Spiritus."  Then  the  master  called  out  to  his  men: 
"Set  sail,  in  God's  name!"  And  they  did  so.  And  in  a  little 
time  the  wind  struck  the  sails  and  carried  us  out  of  sight  of 
land,  so  that  we  saw  nothing  but  sea  and  sky;  and  every  day 
the  wind  bore  us  farther  away  from  the  land  where  we  were  born. 
And  thereby  I  show  you  how  foolhardy  he  must  be  who  would 
venture  to  put  himself  in  such  peril  with  other  people's  property 
in  his  possession,  or  while  in  deadly  sin;  for  when  you  fall  asleep 
at  night  you  know  not  but  that  ere  the  morning  you  may  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

When  we  reached  Cyprus,  the  king  was  already  there,  and  we 
found  an  immense  supply  of  stores  for  him,  i.e.,  wine-stores  and 
granaries.  The  king's  wine-stores  consisted  of  great  piles  of  casks 
of  wine,  which  his  people  had  purchased  two  years  before  the 
king's  arrival  and  placed  in  an  open  field  near  the  seashore. 
P  r  tions  They  nac*  piled  them  one  upon  the  other,  so  that 
made  in  Oy-  when  seen  from  the  front  they  looked  like  a 
farmhouse.  The  wheat  and  barley  had  been 
heaped  up  in  the  middle  of  the  field,  and  at  first  sight  looked  like 
hills;  for  the  rain,  which  had  long  beaten  upon-  the  corn,  had 
caused  it  to  sprout,  so  that  nothing  was  seen  but  green  herbage. 
But  when  it  was  desired  to  transport  it  to  Egypt,  they  broke  off 
the  outer  coating  with  the  green  herbage,  and  the  wheat  and  bar- 
ley within  were  found  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  only  just  been 
threshed  out. 

The  king,  as  I  have  heard  him  say,  would  gladly  have  pushed 
on  to  Egypt  without  stopping,  had  not  his  barons  advised  him 
to  wait  for  his  army,  which  had  not  all  arrived.  While  the  king 
was  sojourning  in  Cyprus,  the  great  Khan  of  Tartary1   sent 

1  In  the  early  years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  an  Asiatic  chieftain  by  the 
name  of  Genghis  Khan  built  up  a  vast  empire  of  Mongol  or  Tartar  peoples, 
which  for  a  time  stretched  all  the  way  from  China  to  eastern  Germany. 
The  rise  and  westward  expansion  of  this  barbarian  power  spread  alarm 


THE   CHARACTEK   AND    DEEDS   OF   THE    KING  317 

envoys  to  him,  the  bearers  of  very  courteous  messages.  Among 
other  things,  he  told  him  that  he  was  ready  to  aid  him  in  con- 
quering the  Holy  Land  and  in  delivering  Jerusalem  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Saracens.  The  king  received  the  messengers  very 
graciously,  and  sent  some  to  the  Khan,  who  were  two  years 
absent  before  they  could  return.  And  with  his  messengers  the 
An  embassy  king  sent  to  the  Khan  a  tent  fashioned  like  a 
from  the  Khan  chapel,  which  cost  a  large  sum  of  money,  for  it 
was  made  of  fine  rich  scarlet  cloth.  And  the  king,  in  the  hope  of 
drawing  the  Khan's  people  to  our  faith,  caused  to  be  embroid- 
ered inside  the  chapel,  pictures  representing  the  Annunciation  of 
Our,  Lady,  and  other  articles  of  faith.  And  he  sent  these  things 
to  them  by  the  hands  of  two  friars,  who  spoke  the  Saracen 
language,  to  teach  and  point  out  to  them  what  they  ought  to 
believe.     .     .     . 

As  soon  as  March  came  round,  the  king,  and,  by  his  command, 
the  barons  and  other  pilgrims,  gave  orders  that  the  ships  should 
be  laden  with  wine  and  provisions,  to  be  ready  to  sail  when  the 
king  should  give  the  signal.  It  happened  that  when  everything 
was  ready,  the  king  and  queen  withdrew  on  board  their  ship  on 
The  departure  the  Friday  before  Whitsunday,  and  the  king  de- 
from  Cyprus  sired  his  barons  to  follow  in  his  wake  straight 
towards  Egypt.  On  Saturday 1  the  king  set  sail,  and  all 
the  other  vessels  at  the  same  time,  which  was  a  fine  sight  to 
behold,  for  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  sea,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 

throughout  Christendom,  and  with  good  reason,  for  it  was  with  great  diffi- 
culty that  the  Tartar  sovereigns  were  prevented  from  extending  their  domin- 
ion over  Germany  and  perhaps  over  all  western  Europe.  After  the  first 
feeling  of  terror  had  passed,  however,  it  began  to  be  considered  that  possibly 
the  Asiatic  conquerors  might  yet  be  made  to  serve  the  interests  of  Christen- 
dom. They  were  not  Mohammedans,  and  Christian  leaders  saw  an  oppor- 
tunity to  turn  them  against  the  Saracen  master  of  the  coveted  Holy  Land. 
Louis  IX.'s  reception  of  an  embassy  from  Ilchikadai,  one  of  the  Tartar  khans, 
or  sovereigns,  was  only  one  of  several  incidents  which  illustrate  the  efforts 
made  in  this  direction.  After  this  episode  the  Tartars  advanced  rapidly  into 
Syria,  taking  the  important  cities  of  Damascus  and  Aleppo;  but  a  great  de- 
feat, September  3,  1260,  by  the  sultan  Kutuz  at  Ain  Talut  stemmed  the  tide 
of  invasion  and  compelled  the  Tartars  to  retire  to  their  northern  dominions. 
iMay  21,  1249. 


318  THE   REIGN   OF  SAINT   LOUIS 

reach,  was  covered  with  sails,  and  the  number  of  ships,  great  and 
small,  was  reckoned  at  1,800.     .     .     .* 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  count  of  Poitiers,  the  king  summoned 
all  the  barons  of  the  army  to  decide  in  what  direction  he  should 
march,  whether  towards  Alexandria,  or  towards  Babylon.2 
It  resulted  that  the  good  Count  Peter  of  Brittany,  and  most  of 
the  barons  of  the  army,  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  king  should 
lay  siege  to  Alexandria,  because  that  city  is  possessed  of  a  good 
Decision  Por^  wnere  ^ne  vessels  could  lie  that  should  bring 

to  proceed  provisions  for  the  army.    To  this  the  count  of  Ar- 

tois  was  opposed.  He  said  that  he  could  not  ad- 
vise going  anywhere  except  to  Babylon,  because  that  was  the 
chief  town  in  all  the  realm  of  Egypt;  he  added,  that  whosoever 
wished  to  kill  a  serpent  outright  should  crush  its  head.  The 
king  set  aside  the  advice  of  his  barons,  and  held  to  that  of  his 
brother. 

At  the  beginning  of  Advent,  the  king  set  out  with  his  army  to 
march  against  Babylon,  as  the  count  of  Artois  had  counseled 
him.  Not  far  from  Damietta  we  came  upon  a  stream  of  water 
which  issued  from  the  great  river  [Nile],  and  it  was  resolved 
that  the  army  should  halt  for  a  day  to  dam  up  this  branch,  so 
that  it  might  be  crossed.  The  thing  was  done  easily  enough, 
for  the  arm  was  dammed  up  close  to  the  great  river.  At  the 
passage  of  this  stream  the  sultan  sent  500  of  his  knights,  the 
best  mounted  in  his  whole  army,  to  harass  the  king's  troops, 
and  retard  our  march. 

On  St.  Nicholas's  day  3  the  king  gave  the  order  to  march 
and  forbade  that  any  one  should  be  so  bold  as  to  sally  out  upon 
the  Saracens  who  were  before  us.    So  it  chanced  that  when  the 

1  Joinville  here  gives  an  account  of  the  first  important  undertaking  of  the 
crusaders — the  capture  of  Damietta.  After  this  achievement  the  king 
resolved  to  await  the  arrival  of  his  brother,  the  count  of  Poitiers,  with  addi- 
tional troops.  The  delay  thus  occasioned  was  nearly  half  a  year  in  length, 
i.e.,  until  October. 

2  This  was  a  common  designation  of  Cairo,  the  Saracen  capital  of  Egypt. 

3  December  6. 


THE   CHARACTER  AND   DEEDS   OF  THE    KING  319 

army  was  in  motion  to  resume  the  march  and  the  Turks  saw 
that  no  one  would  sally  out  against  them,  and  learned  from  their 
spies  that  the  king  had  forbidden  it,  they  became  emboldened 
A  skirmish  be-  and  attacked  the  Templars,1  who  formed  the 
acenTud  the"  advance-guard.  And  one  of  the  Turks  hurled  to 
Templars  the  ground  one  of  the  knights  of  the  Temple, 

right  before  the  feet  of  the  horse  of  Reginald  de  Bichiers,  who 
was  at  that  time  Marshal  of  the  Temple.  When  the  latter  saw 
this,  he  shouted  to  the  other  brethren :  "Have  at  them,  in  God's 
name!  I  cannot  surfer  any  more  of  this."  He  dashed  in  his 
spurs,  and  all  the  army  did  likewise.  Our  people's  horses  were 
fresh,  while  those  of  the  Turks  were  already  worn  out.  Whence 
it  happened,  as  I  have  heard,  that  not  a  Turk  escaped,  but 
all  perished,  several  of  them  having  plunged  into  the  river, 
where  they  were  drowned.     .     .     .  2 

One  evening  when  we  were  on  duty  near  the  cat  castles,  they 
brought  against  us  an  engine  called  pierriere,3  which  they  had 
never  done  before,  and  they  placed  Greek  fire  4  in  the  sling  of 
the  engine.     When  Monseigneur  Walter  de  Cureil,   the  good 

1  The  order  of  the  Templars  was  founded  in  1119  to  afford  protection  to 
pilgrims  in  Palestine.  The  name  was  taken  from  the  temple  of  Solomon,  in 
Jerusalem,  near  which  the  organization's  headquarters  were  at  first  es- 
tablished. The  Templars,  in  their  early  history,  were  a  military  order  and 
they  had  a  prominent  part  in  most  of  the  crusading  movements  after  their 
foundation. 

2  At  this  point  Joinville  gives  an  extended  description  of  the  Nile  and  its 
numerous  mouths.  King  Louis  found  himself  on  the  bank  of  one  of  the 
streams  composing  the  delta,  with  the  sultan's  army  drawn  up  on  the  other 
side  to  prevent  the  Christians  from  crossing.  Louis  determined  to  construct 
an  embankment  across  the  stream,  so  that  his  troops  might  cross  and  engage 
in  battle  with  the  enemy.  To  protect  the  men  engaged  in  building  the  em- 
bankment, two  towers,  called  cat  castles  (because  they  were  in  front  of 
two  cats,  or  covered  galleries)  were  erected.  Under  cover  of  these,  the  work 
of  constructing  a  passageway  went  on,  though  the  Saracens  did  not  cease  to 
shower  missiles  upon  the  laborers. 

3  An  instrument  intended  primarily  for  the  hurling  of  stones. 

4  Greek  fire  was  made  in  various  ways,  but  its  main  ingredients  were  sul- 
phur, Persian  gum,  pitch,  petroleum,  and  oil.  It  was  a  highly  inflammable 
substance  and  when  once  ignited  could  be  extinguished  only  by  the  use  of 
vinegar  or  sand.  It  was  used  quite  extensively  by  the  Saracens  in  their 
battles  with  the  crusaders,  being  usually  projected  in  the  form  of  fire-balls 
from  hollow  tubes. 


320  THE   REIGN    OF   SAINT   LOUIS 

knight,  who  was  with  me,  saw  that,  he  said  to  us:  "Sirs,  we  are 

in  the  greatest  peril  we  have  yet  been  in;  for  if  they  set  fire  to 

our  towers,  and  we  remain  here,  we  are  dead  men,  and  if  we 

leave  our  posts  which  have  been  intrusted  to  us,  we  are  put  to 

shame;  and  no  one  can  rescue  us  from  this  peril  save  God.     It  is 

therefore  my  opinion  and  my  advice  to  you  that  each  time  they 

discharge  the  fire  at  us  we  should  throw  ourselves  upon  our 

elbows  and  knees,  and  pray  our  Lord  to  bring  us  out  of  this 

danger." 

As  soon  as  they  fired  we  threw  ourselves  upon  our  elbows  and 

knees,  as  he  had  counseled  us.     The  first  shot  they  fired  came 

between  our  two  cat  castles,  and  fell  in  front  of  us  on  the  open 

place  which  the  army  had  made  for  the  purpose  of  damming  the 

river.     Our  men  whose  duty  it  was  to  extinguish  fires  were  all 

ready  for  it;  and  because  the  Saracens  could  not  aim  at  them 

on  account  of  the  two  wings  of  the  sheds  which  the  king  had 

erected  there,  they  fired  straight  up  towards  the  clouds,  so  that 

Th    S      c  their  darts  came  down  from  above  upon  the  men. 

make  use  of  The  nature  of  the  Greek  fire  was  in  this  wise,  that 
Greek  fire 

it  rushed  forward  as  large  around  as  a  cask  of 

verjuice,1  and  the  tail  of  the  fire  which  issued  from  it  was  as  big 
as  a  large-sized  spear.  It  made  such  a  noise  in  coming  that  it 
seemed  as  if  it  were  a  thunderbolt  from  heaven  and  looked  like  a 
dragon  flying  through  the  air.  It  cast  such  a  brilliant  light  that 
in  the  camp  they  could  see  as  clearly  as  if  it  were  daytime,  be- 
cause of  the  light  diffused  by  such  a  bulk  of  fire.  Three  times 
that  night  they  discharged  the  Greek  fire  at  us,  and  four  times 
they  sent  it  from  the  fixed  cross-bows.  Each  time  that  our 
sainted  king  heard  that  they  had  discharged  the  Greek  fire  at 
us,  he  dressed  himself  on  his  bed  and  stretched  out  his  hands 
towards  our  Lord,  and  prayed  with  tears:  "Fair  Sire  God, 
preserve  me  my  people!"  And  I  verily  believe  that  his  prayers 
stood  us  in  good  stead  in  our  hour  of  need.     That  evening,  every 

i  An  acid  liquor  made  from  sour  apples  or  grapes. 


THE   CHARACTER   AND   DEEDS   OF  THE   KING  321 

time  the  fire  fell,  he  sent  one  of  his  chamberlains  to  inquire  in 
what  state  we  were  and  if  the  fire  had  done  us  any  damage. 
One  time  when  they  threw  it,  it  fell  close  to  the  cat  castle  which 
Monseigneur  de  Courtenay's  people  were  guarding,  and  struck 
on  the  river-bank.  Then  a  knight  named  Aubigoiz  called  to 
me  and  said:  "Sir,  if  you  do  not  help  us  we  are  all  burnt,  for 
the  Saracens  have  discharged  so  many  of  their  darts  dipped  in 
Greek  fire  that  there  is  of  them,  as  it  were,  a  great  blazing 
hedge  coming  towards  our  tower." 

We  ran  forward  and  hastened  thither  and  found  that  he  spoke 
the  truth.  We  extinguished  the  fire,  but  before  we  had  done 
so  the  Saracens  covered  us  with  the  darts  they  discharged  from 
the  other  side  of  the  river. 

The  king's  brothers  mounted  guard  on  the  roof  of  the  cat 
castles  to  fire  bolts  from  cross-bows  against  the  Saracens,  and 
which  fell  into  their  camp.  The  king  had  commanded  that  when 
the  king  of  Sicily 1  mounted  guard  in  the  daytime  at  the  cat 
castles,  we  were  to  do  so  at  night.  One  day  when  the  king  of 
Sicily  was  keeping  watch,  which  we  should  have  to  do  at  night,  we 
were  in  much  trouble  of  mind  because  the  Saracens  had  shattered 
Progress  of  °ur  cat  castles.  The  Saracens  brought  out  the 
the  conflict  pierriere  in  the  daytime,  which  they  had  hitherto 
done  only  at  night,  and  discharged  the  Greek  fire  at  our  towers. 
They  had  advanced  their  engines  so  near  to  the  causeway 
which  the  army  had  constructed  to  dam  the  river  that  no  one 
dared  to  go  to  the  towers,  because  of  the  huge  stones  which 
the  engines  flung  upon  the  road.  The  consequence  was  that 
our  two  towers  were  burned,  and  the  king  of  Sicily  was  so  en- 
raged about  it  that  he  came  near  flinging  himself  into  the  fire  to 
extinguish  it.  But  if  he  were  wrathful,  I  and  my  knights,  for 
our  part,  gave  thanks  to  God;  for  if  we  had  mounted  guard  at 
night,  we  should  all  have  been  burned.     .     .     .  2 

1  Charles,  count  of  Anjou — a  brother  of  Saint  Louis. 

2  Joinville's  story  of  the  remainder  of  the  campaign  in  Egypt  is  a  long  one. 
Enough  has  been  given  to  show  something  of  the  character  of  the  conflicts 

Med.  Hist.— 21 


322  THE   REIGN  OF  SAINT  LOUIS 

It  came  to  pass  that  the  sainted  king  labored  so  much  that 
the  king  of  England,  his  wife,  and  children,  came  to  France 
to  treat  with  him  about  peace  between  him  and  them.  The 
members  of  his  council  were  strongly  opposed  to  this  peace,  and 
said  to  him: 

"  Sire,  we  greatly  marvel  that  it  should  be  your  pleasure  to  yield 
to  the  king  of  England  such  a  large  portion  of  your  land,  which 
The  treaty  you  and  your  predecessors  have  won  from  him,  and 
of  Paris,  1259  obtained  through  forfeiture.  It  seems  to  us  that  if 
you  believe  you  have  no  right  to  it,  you  do  not  make  fitting  restitu- 
tion to  the  king  of  England  unless  you  restore  to  him  all  the  con- 
quests which  you  and  your  predecessors  have  made;  but  if  you 
believe  that  you  have  a  right  to  it,  it  seems  to  us  that  you  are 
throwing  away  all  that  you  yield  to  him." 

To  this  the  sainted  king  replied  after  this  fashion:  "Sirs,  I  am 
certain  that  the  king  of  England's  predecessors  lost  most  justly 
the  conquests  I  hold;  and  the  land  which  I  give  up  to  him  I  do 
not  give  because  I  am  bound  either  towards  himself  or  his  heirs, 
but  to  create  love  between  his  children  and  mine,  who  are  first 
cousins.  And  it  seems  to  me  that  I  am  making  a  good  use  of 
what  I  give  to  him,  because  before  he  was  not  my  vassal,  but 
now  he  has  to  render  homage  to  me."  1     .     .     . 

between  Saracen  and  crusader.  In  the  end  Louis  was  compelled  to  with- 
draw his  shattered  army.  He  then  made  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land  in  the 
hope  of  better  success,  but  the  four  years  he  spent  there  were  likewise  a 
period  of  disappointment. 

i  The  treaty  here  referred  to  is  that  of  Paris,  negotiated  by  Louis  IX.  and 
Henry  III.  in  1259.  By  it  the  English  king  renounced  his  claim  to  Normandy, 
Maine,  Anjou,  Touraine,  and  Poitou,  while  Louis  IX.  ceded  to  Henry  the 
Limousin,  Perigord,  and  part  of  Saintonge,  besides  the  reversion  of  Agenais 
and  Quercy.  The  territories  thus  abandoned  by  the  French  were  to  be  an- 
nexed to  the  duchy  of  Guienne,  for  which  Henry  III.  was  to  render  homage 
to  the  French  king,  just  as  had  been  rendered  by  the  English  sovereigns 
before  the  conquests  of  Philip  Augustus.  Manifestly  Louis  IX.  's  chief  motive 
in  yielding  possession  of  lands  he  regarded  as  properly  his  was  to  secure  peace 
with  England  and  to  get  the  homage  of  the  English  king  for  Guienne.  For 
upwards  of  half  a  century  the  relations  of  England  and  France  had  been 
strained  by  reason  of  the  refusal  of  Henry  III.  to  recognize  the  conquests  of 
Philip  Augustus  and  to  render  the  accustomed  homage.  The  treaty  of  Paris 
was  important  because  it  regulated  the  relations  of  France  and  England  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War.    It  undertook  to  perpetuate  the 


THE   CHARACTER  AND   DEEDS    OF  THE    KING  323 

After  the  king's  return  from  beyond  sea,  he  lived  so  devoutly 
that  he  never  afterwards  wore  furs  of  different  colors,  nor  min- 
never,1  nor  scarlet  cloth,  nor  gilt  stirrups  or  spurs.  His  dress 
was  of  camlet 2  and  of  a  dark  blue  cloth;  the  linings  of  Kis  cover- 
lets and  garments  were  of  doeskin  or  hare-legs. 

When  rich  men's  minstrels  entered  the  hall  after  the  repast, 
bringing  with  them  their  viols,  he  waited  to  hear  grace  until  the 
The  king's  minstrel  had  finished  his  chant ;  then  he  rose  and 

personal  the  priests  who  said  grace  stood  before  him.    When 

we  were  at  his  court  in  a  private  way,3  he  used  to 
sit  at  the  foot  of  his  bed,  and  when  the  Franciscans  and  Domin- 
icans 4  who  were  there  spoke  of  a  book  that  would  give  him  pleas- 
ure, he  would  say  to  them:  "You  shall  not  read  to  me,  for,  after 
eating,  there  is  no  book  so  pleasant  as  quolibets," — that  is,  that 
every  one  should  say  what  he  likes.  When  men  of  quality  dined 
with  him,  he  made  himself  agreeable  to  them.     . 

Many  a  time  it  happened  that  in  the  summer  he  would  go 
and  sit  down  in  the  wood  at  Vincennes,5  with  his  back  to  an  oak, 
and  make  us  take  our  seats  around  him.  And  all  those  who  had 
complaints  to  make  came  to  him,  without  hindrance  from  ushers 
or  other  folk.  Then  he  asked  them  with  his  own  lips:  "  Is  there 
any  one  here  who  has  a  cause?"  6  Those  who  had  a  cause  stood 
His  primitive  up'  wnen  he  would  say  to  them:  " Silence  all, 
method  of  dis-  and  you  shall  be  dispatched  one  after  the  other." 
Then  he  would  call  Monseigneur  de  Fontaines,  or 
Monseigneur  Geoffrey  de  Villette,  and  would   say  to    one    of 

old  division  of  French  soil  between  the  English  and  French  monarchs — an 
arrangement  always  fruitful  of  discord  and  destined,  more  than  anything  else, 
to  bring  on  the  great  struggle  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  be- 
tween the  two  nations  [see  p.  417  ff.]. 

1  A  fur  much  esteemed  in  the  Middle  Ages.     It  is  not  known  whether  it 
was  the  fur  of  a  single  animal  or  of  several  kinds  combined. 

2  A  woven  fabric  made  of  camel's  hair. 

3  After  his  retirement  from  the  royal  service  in  1254  Joinville  frequently 
made  social  visits  at  Louis's  court. 

4  On  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  [see  p.  360]. 

5  To  the  east  from  Paris — now  a  suburb  of  that  city.    The  chateau  of 
Vincennes  was  one  of  the  favorite  royal  residences. 

6  That  is,  a  case  in  law. 


324  THE   REIGN    OF  SAINT   LOUIS 

them:  "  Dispose  of  this  case  for  me."  When  he  saw  anything  to 
amend  in  the  words  of  those  who  spoke  for  others,  he  would  cor- 
rect it  with  his  own  lips.  Sometimes  in  summer  I  have  seen  him, 
in  order  'to  administer  justice  to  the  people,  come  into  the  garden 
of  Paris  dressed  in  a  camlet  coat,  a  surcoat  of  woollen  stuff, 
without  sleeves,  a  mantle  of  black  taffety  around  his  neck,  his 
hair  well  combed  and  without  coif,  a  hat  with  white  peacock's 
feathers  on  his  head.  Carpets  were  spread  for  us  to  sit  down 
upon  around  him,  and  all  the  people  who  had  business  to  dis- 
patch stood  about  in  front  of  him.  Then  he  would  have  it 
dispatched  in  the  same  manner  as  I  have  already  described  in 
the  wood  of  Vincennes. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

MUNICIPAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ACTIVITY 

67.  Some  Twelfth  Century  Town  Charters 

In  the  times  of  the  Carolingians  the  small  and  scattered  towns  and 
villages  of  western  Europe,  particularly  of  France,  were  inhabited 
mainly  by  serfs  and  villeins,  i.e.,  by  a  dependent  rather  than  an  inde- 
pendent population.  With  scarcely  an  exception,  these  urban  centers 
belonged  to  the  lords  of  the  neighboring  lands,  who  administered  their 
affairs  through  mayors,  provosts,  bailiffs,  or  other  agents,  collected  from 
them  seigniorial  dues  as  from  the  rural  peasantry,  and,  in  short,  took 
entire  charge  of  matters  of  justice,  finance,  military  obligations,  and 
industrial  arrangements.  There  was  no  local  self-government,  nothing 
in  the  way  of  municipal  organization  separate  from  the  feudal  regime, 
and  no  important  burgher  class  as  distinguished  from  the  agricultural 
laborers.  By  the  twelfth  century  a  great  transformation  is  apparent. 
France  has  come  to  be  dotted  with  strong  and  often  largely  independent 
municipalities,  and  a  powerful  class  of  bourgeoisie,  essentially  anti- 
feudal  in  character,  has  risen  to  play  an  increasing  part  in  the  nation's 
political  and  economic  life.  In  these  new  municipalities  there  is  a  larger 
measure  of  freedom  of  person,  security  of  property,  and  rights  of  self- 
government  than  Europe  had  known  since  the  days  of  Charlemagne, 
perhaps  even  since  the  best  period  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  reason  for  this  transformation — in  other  words,  the  origin  of  these 
new  municipal  centers — has  been  variously  explained.  One  theory  is 
that  the  municipal  system  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  essentially  a  survival 
of  that  which  prevailed  in  western  Europe  under  the  fostering  influence 
of  Rome.  The  best  authorities  now  reject  this  view,  for  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that,  speaking  generally,  the  barbarian  invasions  and 
feudalism  practically  crushed  out  the  municipal  institutions  of  the  Em- 
pire.   Another  theory  ascribes  the  origin  of  mediaeval  municipal  govern- 

325 


326  MUNICIPAL   ORGANIZATION   AND   ACTIVITY 

merit  to  the  merchant  and  craft  guilds,  particularly  the  former;  but 
there  is  little  evidence  to  support  the  view.  Undeniably  the  guild  was 
an  important  factor  in  drawing  groups  of  burghers  together  and  forming 
centers  of  combination  against  local  lords,  but  it  was  at  best  only  one 
of  several  forces  tending  to  the  growth  of  municipal  life.  Other  factors 
of  larger  importance  were  the  military  and  the  commercial.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  need  of  protection  led  people  to  flock  to  fortified  places — 
castles  or  monasteries— and  settle  in  the  neighborhood;  on  the  othet, 
the  growth  of  commerce  and  industry,  especially  after  the  eleventh 
century,  caused  strategic  places  like  the  intersection  of  great  highways 
and  rivers  to  become  seats  of  permanent  and  growing  population.  The 
towns  which  thus  sprang  up  in  response  to  new  conditions  and  necessities 
in  time  took  on  a  political  as  well  as  a  commercial  and  industrial  char- 
acter, principally  through  the  obtaining  of  charters  from  the  neighboring 
lords,  denning  the  measure  of  independence  to  be  enjoyed  and  the  re- 
spective rights  of  lord  and  town.  Charters  of  the  sort  were  usually 
granted  by  the  lord,  not  merely  because  requested  by  the  burghers, 
but  because  they  were  paid  for  and  constituted  a  valuable  source  of 
revenue.  Not  infrequently,  however,  a  charter  was  wrested  from  an 
unwilling  lord  through  open  warfare.  It  was  in  the  first  half  of  the 
twelfth  century  that  town  charters  became  common.  As  a  rule  they 
were  obtained  by  the  larger  towns  (it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  a 
population  of  10,000  was  large  in  the  twelfth  century),  but  not  neces- 
sarily so,  for  many  villages  of  two  or  three  hundred  people  secured  them 
also. 

The  two  great  classes  of  towns  were  the  villes  libres  (free  towns) 
and  the  villes  franches,  or  villes  de  bourgeoisie  (franchise,  or  chartered, 
towns).  The  free  towns  enjoyed  a  large  measure  of  independence. 
In  relation  to  their  lords  they  occupied  essentially  the  position  of  vassals, 
with  the  legislative,  financial,  and  judicial  privileges  which  by  the 
twelfth  century  all  great  vassals  had  come  to  have.  The  burghers 
elected  their  own  officers,  constituted  their  own  courts,  made  their  own 
laws,  levied  taxes,  and  even  waged  war.  The  leading  types  of  free  cities 
were  the  communes  of  northern  France  (governed  by  a  provost  and  one 
or  more  councils,  often  essentially  oligarchical)  and  the  consulates  of 
southern  France  and  northern  Italy  (distinguished  from  the  communes 
by  the  fact  that  the  executive  was  made  up  of  "consuls,"  and  by  the 


SOME   TWELFTH   CENTURY   TOWN   CHARTERS  327 

greater  participation  of  the  local  nobility  in  town  affairs).  A  typical 
free  town  of  the  commune  type,  was  Laon,  in  the  region  of  northern 
Champagne.  In  1109  the  bishop  of  Laon,  who  was  lord  of  the  city, 
consented  to  the  establishment  of  a  communal  government.  Three 
years  later  he  sought  to  abolish  it,  with  the  result  that  an  insurrection 
was  stirred  up  in  which  he  lost  his  life.  King  Louis  VI.  intervened  and 
the  citizens  were  obliged  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  new  bishop, 
though  in  1328  fear  of  another  uprising  led  this  official  to  renew  the  old 
grant.    The  act  was  ratified  by  Louis  VI.  in  the  text  (a)  given  below. 

The  other  great  class  of  towns — the  franchise  towns — differed  from 
the  free  towns  in  having  a  much  more  limited  measure  of  political  and 
economic  independence.  They  received  grants  of  privileges,  or  "fran- 
chises," from  their  lord,  especially  in  the  way  of  restrictions  of  rights  of 
the  latter  over  the  persons  and  property  of  the  inhabitants,  but  they 
remained  politically  subject  to  the  lord  and  their  government  was  partly 
or  wholly  under  his  control.  Their  charters  set  a  limit  to  the  lord's 
arbitrary  authority,  emancipated  such  inhabitants  as  were  not  already 
free,  gave  the  citizens  the  right  to  move  about  and  to  alienate  property, 
substituted  money  payments  for  the  corvee,  and  in  general  made  old 
regulations  less  burdensome;  but  as  a  rule  no  political  rights  were  con- 
ferred. Paris,  Tours,  Orleans,  and  other  more  important  cities  on  the 
royal  domain  belonged  to  this  class.  The  town  of  Lorris,  on  the  royal 
domain  a  short  distance  east  of  Orleans,  became  the  common  model  for 
the  type.  Its  charter,  received  from  Louis  VII.  in  1155,  is  given  in 
the  second  selection  (b)  below. 

Sources — (a)  Text  in  Vilevault  and  Br^quigny,  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de 
France  de  la  Troisieme  Race  [ "  Ordinances  of  the  Kings  of 
France  of  the  Third  Dynasty  "],  Paris,  1769,  Vol.  XI.,  pp.  185- 

187. 

(b)  Text  in  Maurice  Prou,  Les  Coutumes  de  Lorris  et  leur  Propaga- 
tion aux  XIIe  et  XHIe  Siecles  ["The  Customs  of  Lorris  and 
their  Spread  in  the  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Centuries  "J, 
Paris,  1884,  pp.  129-141. 

(a) 
1.   Let  no  one  arrest  any  freeman  or  serf  for  any  offense  with- 
out due  process  of  law.1 

1  Such  guarantees  of  personal  liberty  were  not  peculiar  to  the  charters  of 
communes;  they  are  often  found  in  those  of  franchise  towns. 


328  MUNICIPAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ACTIVITY 

2.   But  if  any  one  do  injury  to  a  clerk,  soldier,  or  merchant, 

native  or  foreign,  provided  he  who  does  the  injury  belongs  to  the 

Provisions  of      same  c&y  as  tne  injured  person,  let  him,  sum- 

the  charter  of     moned   after  the  fourth   day,   come  for  justice 

before  the  mayor  and  jurats.1 

7.  If  a  thief  is  arrested,  let  him  be  brought  to  him  on  whose 
land  he  has  been  arrested;  but  if  justice  is  not  done  by  the  lord, 
let  it  be  done  by  the  jurats.2 

12.   We  entirely  abolish  mortmain.3 

18.  The  customary  tallages  we  have  so  reformed  that  every 
man  owing  such  tallages,  at  the  time  when  they  are  due,  must 
pay  four  pence,  and  beyond  that  no  more.4 

19.  Let  men  of  the  peace  not  be  compelled  to  resort  to  courts 
outside  the  city.5 

(b) 

1.  Every  one  who  has  a  house  in  the  parish  of  Lorris  shall 
pay  as  cens  sixpence  only  for  his  house,  and  for  each  acre  of  land 
that  he  possesses  in  the  parish.6 

2.  No  inhabitant  of  the  parish  of  Lorris  shall  be  required  to 
pay  a  toll  or  any  other  tax  on  his  provisions;  and  let  him  not 
be  made  to  pay  any  measurage  fee  on  the  grain  which  he  has 
raised  by  his  own  labor.7 

i  The  chief  magistrate  of  Laon  was  a  mayor,  elected  by  the  citizens.  In 
judicial  matters  he  was  assisted  by  twelve  "jurats." 

2  This  is  intended  to  preserve  the  judicial  privileges  of  lords  of  manors. 

3  The  citizens  of  the  town  were  to  have  freedom  to  dispose  of  their  property 
as  they  chose. 

4  This  provision  was  intended  to  put  an  end  to  arbitrary  taxation  by  the 
bishop.  In  the  earlier  twelfth  century  serfs  were  subject  to  the  arbitrary 
levy  of  the  taille  (tallage)  and  this  indeed  constituted  one  of  their  most 
grievous  burdens.  Arbitrary  tallage  was  almost  invariably  abolished  by 
the  town  charters. 

5  By  "men  of  the  peace"  is  meant  the  citizens  of  the  commune.  The  term 
"commune"  is  scrupulously  avoided  in  the  chart  er  because  of  its  odious 
character  in  the  eyes  of  the  bishop.  Suits  were  to  be  tried  at  home  in  the 
burgesses'  own  courts,  to  save  time  and  expense  and  insure  better  justice. 

"  This  trifling  payment  of  sixpence  a  year  was  made  in  recognition  of  the 
lordship  of  the  king,  the  grantor  of  the  charter.  Aside  from  it,  the  burgher 
had  full  rights  over  his  land. 

7  The  burghers,  who  were  often  engaged  in  agriculture  as  well  as  commerce. 


SOME   TWELFTH   CENTURY   TOWN    CHARTERS  329 

3.  No  burgher  shall  go  on  an  expedition,  on  foot  or  on  horse- 
back, from  which  he  cannot  return  the  same  day  to  his  home  if 
he  desires.1 

4.  No  burgher  shall  pay  toll  on  the  road  to  Etampes,  to 
Orleans,  to  Milly  (which  is  in  the  Gatinais),  or  to  Melun.2 

5.  No  one  who  has  property  in  the  parish  of  Lorris  shall  forfeit  it 
The  charter  f °r  any  offense  whatsoever,  unless  the  offense  shall 
of  Lorris  have  been  committed  against  us  or  any  of  our  hdtes.3 

6.  No  person  while  on  his  way  to  the  fairs  and  markets  of 
Lorris,  or  returning,  shall  be  arrested  or  disturbed,  unless  he 
shall  have  committed  an  offense  on  the  same  day.4 

9.  No  one,  neither  we  nor  any  other,  shall  exact  from  the 
burghers  of  Lorris  any  tallage,  tax,  or  subsidy.5 

12.  If  a  man  shall  have  had  a  quarrel  with  another,  but  with- 
out breaking  into  a  fortified  house,  and  if  the  parties  shall  have 
reached  an  agreement  without  bringing  a  suit  before  the  provost, 
no  fine  shall  be  due  to  us  or  our  provost  on  account  of  the  affair.6 

are  to  be  exempt  from  tolls  on  commodities  bought  for  their  own  sustenance 
and  from  the  ordinary  fees  due  the  lord  for  each  measure  of  grain  harvested. 

1  The  object  of  this  provision  is  to  restrict  the  amount  of  military  service 
due  the  king.  The  burghers  of  small  places  like  Lorris  were  farmers  and 
traders  who  made  poor  soldiers  and  who  were  ordinarily  exempted  from 
service  by  their  lords.  The  provision  for  Lorris  practically  amounted  to  an 
exemption,  for  such  service  as  was  permissible  under  chapter  3  of  the 
charter  was  not  worth  much. 

2  The  Gatinais  was  the  region  in  which  Lorris  was  situated.  Etampes, 
Milly,  and  Melun  all  lay  to  the  north  of  Lorris,  in  the  direction  of  Paris.  Or- 
leans lay  to  the  west.  The  king's  object  in  granting  the  burghers  the  right  to 
carry  goods  to  the  towns  specified  without  payment  of  tolls  was  to  encourage 
commercial  intercourse. 

3  This  protects  the  landed  property  of  the  burghers  against  the  crown  and 
crown  officials.  With  two  exceptions,  fine  or  imprisonment,  not  confiscation 
of  land,  is  to  be  the  penalty  for  crime.  Hotes  denotes  persons  receiving  land 
from  the  king  and  under  his  direct  protection. 

4  This  provision  is  intended  to  attract  merchants  to  Lorris  by  placing  them 
under  the  king's  protection  and  assuring  them  that  they  would  not  be  mo- 
lested on  account  of  old  offenses. 

5  This  chapter  safeguards  the  personal  property  of  the  burghers,  as  chapter 
5  safeguards  their  land.  Arbitrary  imposts  are  forbidden  and  any  of  the 
inhabitants  who  as  serfs  had  been  paying  arbitrary  tallage  are  relieved  of 
the  burden.  The  nominal  cens  (Chap.  1)  was  to  be  the  only  regular  payment 
due  the  king. 

6  An  agreement  outside  of  court  was  allowable  in  all  cases  except  when 
there  was  a  serious  breach  of  the  public  peace.    The  provost  was  the  chief 


330  MUNICIPAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ACTIVITY 

15.  No  inhabitant  of  Lorris  is  to  render  us  the  obligation  of 
corvee,  except  twice  a  year,  when  our  wine  is  to  be  carried  to 
Orleans,  and  not  elsewhere.1 

16.  No  one  shall  be  detained  in  prison  if  he  can  furnish  surety 
that  he  will  present  himself  for  judgment. 

17.  Any  burgher  who  wishes  to  sell  his  property  shall  have 
the  privilege  of  doing  so;  and,  having  received  the  price  of  the 
sale,  he  shall  have  the  right  to  go  from  the  town  freely  and  with- 
out molestation,  if  he  so  desires,  unless  he  has  committed  some 
offense  in  it. 

18.  Any  one  who  shall  dwell  a  year  and  a  day  in  the  parish  of 
Lorris,  without  any  claim  having  pursued  him  there,  and  without 
having  refused  to  lay  his  case  before  us  or  our  provost,  shall 
abide  there  freely  and  without  molestation.2 

35.  We  ordain  that  every  time  there  shall  be  a  change  of 
provosts  in  the  town  the  new  provost  shall  take  an  oath  faith- 
fully to  observe  these  regulations;  and  the  same  thing  shall  be 
done  by  new  sergeants  3  every  time  that  they  are  installed. 

58.   The  Colonization  of  Eastern  Germany 

In  the  time  of  Charlemagne  the  Elbe  River  marked  a  pretty  clear 
boundary  between  the  Slavic  population  to  the  east  and  the  Germanic 
to  the  west.  There  were  many  Slavs  west  of  the  Elbe,  but  no  Germans 
east  of  it.    There  had  been  a  time  when  Germans  occupied  large  portions 

officer  of  the  town.  He  was  appointed  by  the  crown  and  was  charged 
chiefly  with  the  administration  of  justice  and  the  collection  of  revenues. 
All  suits  of  the  burghers  were  tried  in  his  court.  They  had  no  active  part  in 
their  own  government,  as  was  generally  true  of  the  franchise  towns. 

1  Another  part  of  the  charter  specifies  that  only  those  burghers  who  owned 
horses  and  carts  were  expected  to  render  the  king  even  this  service. 

2  This  clause,  which  is  very  common  in  the  town  charters  of  the  twelfth 
century  (especially  in  the  case  of  towns  on  the  royal  domain)  is  intended  to 
attract  serfs  from  other  regions  and  so  to  build  up  population.  As  a 
rule  the  towns  were  places  of  refuge  from  seigniorial  oppression  and  the  pres- 
ent charter  undertakes  to  limit  the  time  within  which  the  lord  might  re- 
cover his  serf  who  had  fled  to  Lorris  to  a  year  and  a  day — except  in  cases 
where  the  serf  should  refuse  to  recognize  the  jurisdiction  of  the  provost's 
court  in  the  matter  of  the  lord's  claim. 

.  3The  sergeants  were  deputies  of  the  provost,  somewhat  on  the  order  of 
town  constables. 


THE   COLONIZATION   OF   EASTERN  GERMANY  331 

of  eastern  Europe,  but  for  one  reason  or  another  they  gradually  became 
concentrated  toward  the  west,  while  Slavic  peoples  pushed  in  to  fill  the 
vacated  territory.  Under  Charlemagne  and  his  successors  we  can  dis- 
cern the  earlier  stages  of  a  movement  of  reaction  which  has  gone  on  in 
later  times  until  the  political  map  of  all  north  central  Europe  has  been 
remodeled.  During  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  centuries  large  por- 
tions of  the  "sphere  of  influence "  (to  use  a  modern  phrase)  which 
Charlemagne  had  created  eastward  from  the  Elbe  were  converted  into 
German  principalities  and'  dependencies.  German  colonists  pushed 
down  the  Danube,  well  toward  the  Black  Sea,  along  the  Baltic,  past  the 
Oder  and  toward  the  Vistula,  and  up  the  Oder  into  the  heart  of  modern 
Poland.  The  Slavic  population  was  slowly  brought  under  subjection, 
Christianized,  and  to  a  certain  extent  Germanized.  In  the  tenth  century 
Henry  I.  (919-936)  began  a  fresh  forward  movement  against  the  Slavs, 
or  Wends,  as  the  Germans  called  them.  Magdeburg,  on  the  Elbe,  was 
established  as  the  chief  base  of  operations.  The  work  was  kept  up  by 
Henry's  son,  Otto  I.  (936-973),  but  under  his  grandson,  Otto  II.  (973- 
9S3),  a  large  part  of  what  had  been  gained  was  lost  for  a  time  through  a 
Slavic  revolt  called  out  by  the  Emperor's  preoccupation  with  affairs  in 
Italy.  Thereafter  for  a  century  the  Slavs  were  allowed  perforce  to  en- 
joy their  earlier  independence,  and  upon  more  than  one  occasion  they 
were  able  to  assume  the  aggressive  against  their  would-be  conquerors. 
In  1066  the  city  of  Hamburg,  on  the  lower  Elbe,  was  attacked  and 
almost  totally  destroyed.  The  imperial  power  was  fast  declining  and  the 
Franconian  sovereigns  had  little  time  left  from  their  domestic  conflicts 
and  quarrels  with  the  papacy  to  carry  on  a  contest  on  the  east. 

The  renewed  advance  which  the  Germans  made  against  the  Slavs  in 
the  later  eleventh  and  earlier  twelfth  centuries  was  due  primarily  to  the 
energy  of  the  able  princes  of  Saxony  and  to  the  pressure  for  colo- 
nization, which  increased  in  spite  of  small  encouragement  from  any 
except  the  local  authorities.  The  document  given  below  is  a  typical 
charter  of  the  period,  authorizing  the  establishment  of  a  colony  of  Ger- 
mans eastward  from  Hamburg,  on  the  border  of  Brandenburg.  It  was 
granted  in  1106  by  the  bishop  of  Hamburg,  who  as  lord  of  the  region 
in  which  the  proposed  settlement  was  to  be  made  exercised  the  right 
not  merely  of  giving  consent  to  the  undertaking,  but  also  of  prescribing 
the  terms  and  conditions  by  which  the  colonists  were  to  be  bound. 


332  MUNICIPAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ACTIVITY 

As  appears  from  the  charter,  the  colony  was  expected  to  be  a  source 
of  profit  to  the  bishop ;  and  indeed  it  was  financial  considerations  on  the 
part  of  lords,  lay  and  spiritual,  who  had  stretches  of  unoccupied  land  at 
their  disposal,  almost  as  much  as  regard  for  safety  in  numbers  and  the 
absolute  dominance  of  Germanic  peoples,  that  prompted  these  local 
magnates  of  eastern  Germany  so  ardently  to  promote  the  work  of 
colonization. 


Source — Text  in  Wilhelm  Altmann  and  Ernst  Bernheim,  Ausgewdhlte 
Urkunden  zur  Erlauterung  der  Verfassungsgeschichte  Devtschlands 
im  Mittelalter  ["Select  Documents  Illustrative  of  the  Constitu- 
tional History  of  Germany  in  the  Middle  Ages"],  3rd  ed.,  Berlin, 
1904,  pp.  159-160.  Translated  in  Thatcher  and  McNeal,  A  Source 
Book  for  Mediaeval  History  (New  York,  1905),  pp.  572-573. 

1.  In  the  name  of  the  holy  and  undivided  Trinity.  Frederick, 
by  the  grace  of  God  bishop  of  Hamburg,  to  all  the  faithful  in 
Christ,  gives  a  perpetual  benediction.  We  wish  to  make  known 
to  all  the  agreement  which  certain  people  living  this  side  of  the 
Rhine,  who  are  called  Hollanders,1  have  made  with  us. 

2.  These  men  came  to  us  and  earnestly  begged  us  to  grant 
them  certain  lands  in  our  bishopric,  which  are  uncultivated, 
Th  H  U  d  swampy,  and  useless  to  our  people.  We  have 
ers  ask  land        consulted   our  subjects   about   this  and,  feeling 

that  this  would  be  profitable  to  us  and  to  our 
successors,  have  granted  their  request. 

3.  The  agreement  was  made  that  they  should  pay  us  every 
year  one  denarius  for  every  hide  of  land.  We  have  thought  it 
necessary  to  determine  the  dimensions  of  the  hide,  in  order  that 
no  quarrel  may  thereafter  arise  about  it.  The  hide  shall  be 
720  royal  rods  long  and  thirty  royal  rods  wide.  We  also  grant 
them  the  streams  which  flow  through  this  land. 

4.  They  agreed  to  give  the  tithe  according  to  our  decree,  that 
is,  every  eleventh  sheaf  of  grain,  every  tenth  lamb,  every  tenth 
pig,  every  tenth  goat,  every  tenth  goose,  and  a  tenth  of  the 

1  These  "Hollanders"  inhabited  substantially  the  portion  of  Europe  now 
designated  by  their  name. 


THE   COLONIZATION   OF   EASTERN   GERMANY  333 

honey  and  of  the  flax.    For  every  colt  they  shall  pay  a  denarius 
on  St.  Martin's  day  [Nov.  11],  and  for  every  calf  an  obol  [penny]. 

5.  They  promised  to  obey  me  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters, 
Obedience  according  to  the  decrees  of  the  holy  fathers, 
the^ishop  of  tne  canonical  law>  and  the  practice  in  the  dio- 
Hamburg  Cese  of  Utrecht.1 

6.  They  agreed  to  pay  every  year  two  marks  for  every  100 
hides  for  the  privilege  of  holding  their  own  courts  for  the  settle- 
ment of  all  their  differences  about  secular  matters.  They  did 
this  because  they  feared  they  would  suffer  from  the  injustice  of 
Judicial  foreign  judges.2  If  they  cannot  settle  the  more 
immunity  important  cases,  they  shall  refer  them  to  the 
bishop.  And  if  they  take  the  bishop  with  them  for  the  purpose 
of  deciding  one  of  their  trials,3  they  shall  provide  for  his  support 
as  long  as  he  remains  there  by  granting  him  one  third  of  all  the 
fees  arising  from  the  trial;  and  they  shall  keep  the  other  two 
thirds. 

7.  We  have  given  them  permission  to  found  churches  wher- 
ever they  may  wish  on  these  lands.  For  the  support  of  the 
priests  who  shall  serve  God  in  these  churches  we  grant  a  tithe 
of  our  tithes  from  these  parish  churches.  They  promised  that 
the  congregation  of  each  of  these  churches  should  endow  their 
church  with  a  hide  for  the  support  of  their  priest.4  The  names 
of  the  men  who  made  this  agreement  with  us  are:  Henry,  the 
priest,  to  whom  we  have  granted  the  aforesaid  churches  for  life; 
and  the  others  are  laymen,  Helikin,  Arnold,  Hiko,  Fordalt,  and 
Referic.  To  them  and  to  their  heirs  after  them  we  have  granted 
the  aforesaid  land  according  to  the  secular  laws  and  to  the  terms 
of  this  agreement. 

1  This  was  the  diocese  from  which  the  colonists  proposed  to  remove. 

2  That  is,  judges  representing  any  outside  authority. 

3  In  other  words,  if  the  bishop  should  go  from  his  seat  at  Hamburg  to  the 
colony. 

4  In  each  parish  of  the  colony,  therefore,  the  priest  would  be  supported 
by  the  income  of  the  hide  of  land  set  apart  for  his  use  and  by  the  tenth  of 
the  regular  church  tithes  which  the  bishop  conceded  for  the  purpose. 


334  MUNICIPAL   ORGANIZATION   AND   ACTIVITY 


59.   The  League  of  Rhenish  Cities  (1254) 

About  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  central  authority  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  for  a  time  practically  dissolved.  Frederick 
II .,  the  last  strong  ruler  of  the  Hohenstaufen  dynasty,  died  in  1250,  and 
even  he  was  so  largely  Italian  in  character  and  interests  that  he  could 
bring  himself  to  give  little  attention  to  German  affairs.  During  the 
stormy  period  of  the  Interregnum  (1254-1273)  there  was  no  universally 
recognized  emperor  at  all.  Germany  had  reached  an  advanced  stage  of 
political  disintegration  and  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  even  a  Henry 
IV.  or  a  Frederick  Barbarossa  could  have  made  the  imperial  power  much 
more  than  a  shadow  and  a  name.  But  while  the  Empire  was  broken  up 
into  scores  of  principalities,  independent  cities,  and  other  political  frag- 
ments, its  people  were  enjoying  a  vigorous  and  progressive  life.  The 
period  was  one  of  great  growth  of  industry  in  the  towns,  and  especially 
of  commerce.  The  one  serious  disadvantage  was  the  lack  of  a  central 
police  authority  to  preserve  order  and  insure  the  safety  of  person  and 
property.  Warfare  was  all  but  ceaseless,  robber-bands  infested  the 
rivers  and  highways,  and  all  manner  of  vexatious  conditions  were  im- 
posed upon  trade  by  the  various  local  authorities.  The  natural  result 
was  the  formation  of  numerous  leagues  and  confederacies  for  the  sup- 
pression of  anarchy  and  the  protection  of  trade  and  industry.  The 
greatest  of  these  was  the  Hanseatic  League,  which  came  to  comprise 
one  hundred  and  seventy-two  cities,  and  the  history  of  whose  operations 
runs  through  more  than  three  centuries.  An  earlier  organization,  which 
may  be  considered  in  a  way  a  forerunner  of  the  Hansa,  was  the  Rhine 
League,  established  in  1254.  At  this  earlier  date  Conrad  IV.,  son  of 
Frederick  II.,  was  fighting  his  half-brother  Manfred  for  their  common 
Sicilian  heritage;  William  of  Holland,  who  claimed  the  imperial  title, 
was  recognized  in  only  a  small  territory  and  was  quite  powerless  to  affect 
conditions  of  disorder  outside;  the  other  princes,  great  and  small,  were 
generally  engaged  in  private  warfare ;  and  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of 
trade  and  industry  were  at  their  maximum.  To  establish  a  power 
strong  enough,  and  with  the  requisite  disposition,  to  suppress  the  rob- 
bers and  pirates  who  were  ruining  commerce,  the  leading  cities  of  the 
Rhine  valley — Mainz,  Cologne,  Worms,  Speyer,  Strassburg,  Basel, 
Trier,  Metz,  and  others — entered  into  a  "  league  of  holy  peace, "  to  endure 


THE   LEAGUE   OF  RHENISH   CITIES  335 

for  a  period  of  ten  years,  dating  from  July  13,  1254.    The  more  signifi- 
cant terms  of  the  compact  are  set  forth  in  the  selection  below. 

Source — Text  in  Wilhelm  Altmann  and  Ernst  Bernheim,  AusgewdhUe 
Urkunden  zur  Erlauterung  der  Verfassungsgeschichte  Deutschlands 
im  Mittelalter  ["Select  Documents  Illustrative  of  the  Constitu- 
tional History  of  Germany  in  the  Middle  Ages"],  3rd  ed.,  Berlin, 
1904,  pp.  251-254.  Translated  in  Thatcher  and  McNeal,  A  Source 
Book  for  Mediaeval  History  (New  York,  1905),  pp.  606-609. 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  amen.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1254, 
on  the  octave  of  St.  Michael's  day  [a  week  after  Sept.  29]  we, 
the  cities  of  the  upper  and  lower  Rhine,  leagued  together  for  the 
preservation  of  peace,  met  in  the  city  of  Worms.  We  held  a 
conference  there  and  carefully  discussed  everything  pertaining  to 
_h    .  a  general  peace.    To  the  honor  of  God,  and  Qf  the 

formed  at  holy  mother  Church,   and   of  the  holy  Empire, 

which  is  now  governed  by  our  lord,  William, 
king  of  the  Romans,1  and  to  the  common  advantage  of  all,  both 
rich  and  poor  alike,  we  made  the  following  laws.  They  are  for 
the  benefit  of  all,  both  poor  and  great,  the  secular  clergy,  monks, 
laymen,  and  Jews.  To  secure  these  things,  which  are  for  the 
public  good,  we  will  spare  neither  ourselves  nor  our  possessions. 
The  princes  and  lords  who  take  the  oath  are  joined  with  us. 

1.  We  decree  that  we  will  make  no  warlike  expeditions,  except 
those  that  are  absolutely  necessary  and  determined  on  by  the 
wise  counsel  of  the  cities  and  communes.  We  will  mutually 
aid  each  other  with  all  our  strength  in  securing  redress  for  our 
grievances. 

2.  We  decree  that  no  member  of  the  league,  whether  city 
No  dealings        or   lord,   Christian   or   Jew,    shall   furnish   food, 

enemiesdofWthe   arms>  or  aid   of  any  kind'  to  any  one  wh°   °P~ 
league  poses  us  or  the  peace. 

3.  And  no  one  in  our  cities  shall  give  credit,  or  make  a  loan, 
to  them. 

1  All  that  this  means  is  that  the  members  of  the  Rhine  League  recognized 
William  of  Holland  as  emperor.  Most  of  the  Empire  did  not  so  recognize 
him.    He  died  in  1256,  two  years  after  the  league  was  formed. 


336  MUNICIPAL   ORGANIZATION  AND   ACTIVITY 

4.  No  citizen  of  any  of  the  cities  in  the  league  shall  associate 
with  such,  or  give  them  counsel,  aid,  or  support.  If  any  one  is 
convicted  of  doing  so,  he  shall  be  expelled  from  the  city  and 
punished  so  severely  in  his  property  that  he  will  be  a  warning 
to  others  not  to  do  such  things. 

5.  If  any  knight,  in  trying  to  aid  his  lord  who  is  at  war  with 
us,  attacks  or  molests  us  anywhere  outside  of  the  walled  towns 
of  his  lord,  he  is  breaking  the  peace,  and  we  will  in  some  way 
A  warning  inflict  due  punishment  on  him  and  his  possessions, 
to  enemies  no  matter  who  he  is.  If  he  is  caught  in  any  of 
the  cities,  he  shall  be  held  as  a  prisoner  until  he  makes  proper 
satisfaction.  We  wish  to  be  protectors  of  the  peasants,  and  we 
will  protect  them  against  all  violence  if  they  will  observe  the 
peace  with  us.  But  if  they  make  war  on  us,  we  will  punish  them, 
and  if  we  catch  them  in  any  of  the  cities,  we  will  punish  them 
as  malefactors. 

6.  We  wish  the  cities  to  destroy  all  the  ferries  except  those 
in  their  immediate  neighborhood,  so  that  there  shall  be  no 
ferries  except  those  near  the  cities  which  are  in  the  league. 
This  is  to  be  done  in  order  that  the  enemies  of  the  peace  may  be 
deprived  of  all  means  of  crossing  the  Rhine. 

7.  We  decree  that  if  any  lord  or  knight  aids  us  in  promoting 
the  peace,  we  will  do  all  we  can  to  protect  him.  Whoever  does 
not  swear  to  keep  the  peace  with  us,  shall  be  excluded  from  the 
general  peace. 

10.  Above  all,  we  wish  to  affirm  that  we  desire  to  live  in 
mutual  peace  with  the  lords  and  all  the  people  of  the  province, 
and  we  desire  that  each  should  preserve  all  his  rights. 

11.  Under  threat  of  punishment  we  forbid  any  citizen  to  revile 
the  lords,  although  they  may  be  our  enemies.  For  although  we 
wish  to  punish  them  for  the  violence  they  have  done  us,  yet  be- 
fore making  war  on  them  we  will  first  warn  them  to  cease  from 
injuring  us. 

12.  We  decree  that  all  correspondence  about  this  matter  with 


THE   LEAGUE   OF  RHENISH   CITIES  337 

the  cities  of  the  lower  Rhine  shall  be  conducted  from  Mainz,  and 
from  Worms  with  the  cities  of  the  upper  Rhine.  From  these 
Mainz  and  two  cities  all  our  correspondence  shall  be  carried 

th^capitals 6  on  an(*  a^  who  have  done  us  injury  shall  be 
of  the  league  warned.  Those  who  have  suffered  injury  shall 
send  their  messengers  at  their  own  expense. 

13.  We  also  promise,  both  lords  and  cities,  to  send  four 
official  representatives  to  whatever  place  a  conference  is  to  be 
The  ffovernine-  ne^'  anc*  they  shall  have  full  authority  from 
body  of  the         their  cities  to  decide  on  all  matters.     They  shall 

1  OQ  0*11  ft 

report  to  their  cities  all  the  decisions  of  the  meet- 
ing. All  who  come  with  the  representatives  of  the  cities,  or  who 
come  to  them  while  in  session,  shall  have  peace,  and  no  judgment 
shall  be  enforced  against  them. 

14.  No  city  shall  receive  non-residents,  who  are  commonly 
called  "pfahlburgers,"  as  citizens.1 

15.  We  firmly  declare  that  if  any  member  of  the  league 
breaks  the  peace,  we  will  proceed  against  him  at  once  as  if  he 
were  not  a  member,  and  compel  him  to  make  proper  satis- 
faction. 

16.  We  promise  that  we  will  faithfully  keep  each  other  in- 
formed by  letter  about  our  enemies  and  all  others  who  may  be 
able  to  do  us  damage,  in  order  that  we  may  take  timely  counsel 
to  protect  ourselves  against  them. 

17.  We  decree  that  no  one  shall  violently  enter  the  house  of 
monks  or  nuns,  of  whatever  order  they  may  be,  or  quarter  them- 
selves upon  them,  or  demand  or  extort  food  or  any  kind  of 

1  These  "  pf ahlburgers ' '  were  subjects  of  ecclesiastical  or  secular  princes 
who,  in  order  to  escape  the  burdens  of  this  relation,  contrived  to  get  them- 
selves enrolled  as  citizens  of  neighboring  cities.  While  continuing  to  dwell 
in  regions  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  their  lords,  they  claimed  to  enjoy 
immunity  from  that  jurisdiction,  because  of  their  citizenship  in  those  outside 
cities.  The  pfahlburgers  were  a  constant  source  of  friction  between  the 
towns  and  the  territorial  princes.  The  Golden  Bull  of  Emperor  Charles  IV. 
(1356)  decreed  that  pfahlburgers  should  not  enjoy  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  the  cities  unless  they  became  actual  residents  of  them  and  discharged  their 
full  obligations  as  citizens. 

Med.  Hist.— 22 


338  MUNICIPAL   ORGANIZATION   AND   ACTIVITY 

service  from  them,  contrary  to  their  will.     If  any  one  does  this, 
he  shall  be  held  as  a  violator  of  the  peace. 

18.  We  decree  that  each  city  shall  try  to  persuade  each  of 
its  neighboring  cities  to  swear  to  keep  the  peace.  If  they  do  not 
The  league  to  do  so,  they  shall  be  entirely  cut  off  from  the 
be  enlarged  peace,  so  that  if  any  one  does  them  an  injury, 
either  in  their  persons  or  their  property,  he  shall  not  thereby 
break  the  peace. 

19.  We  wish  all  members  of  the  league,  cities,  lords,  and  all 
others,  to  arm  themselves  properly  and  prepare  for  war,  so  that 
whenever  we  call  upon  them  we  shall  find  them  ready. 

20.  We  decree  that  the  cities  between  the  Moselle  and  Basel 
shall  prepare  100  war  boats,  and  the  cities  below  the  Moselle 
Militarv  sna^  PrePare  500,  well  equipped  with  bowmen, 
preparations       and   each  city  shall   prepare  herself  as   well  as 

she  can  and  supply  herself  with  arms  for  knights 
and  foot-soldiers. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
UNIVERSITIES  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

The  modern  university  is  essentially  a  product  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  had  provisions  for  higher  education,  but  noth- 
ing that  can  properly  be  termed  universities,  with  faculties,  courses  of 
study,  examinations,  and  degrees.  The  word  "universitas"  in  the 
earlier  mediaeval  period  was  applied  indiscriminately  to  any  group  or 
body  of  people,  as  a  guild  of  artisans  or  an  organization  of  the  clergy, 
and  only  very  gradually  did  it  come  to  be  restricted  to  an  association 
of  teachers  and  students — the  so-called  universitas  societas  magistrorum 
discipulorumque.  The  origins  of  mediaeval  universities  are,  in  most 
cases,  rather  obscure.  In  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  the  interests  of 
learning  were  generally  in  the  keeping  of  the  monks  and  the  work  of 
education  was  carried  on  chiefly  in  monastic  schools,  where  the  subjects 
of  study  were  commonly  the  seven  liberal  arts  inherited  from  Roman 
days.1  By  the  twelfth  century  there  was  a  relative  decline  of  these 
monastic  schools,  accompanied  by  a  marked  development  of  cathedral 
schools  in  which  not  only  the  seven  liberal  arts  but  also  new  subjects 
like  law  and  theology  were  taught.  The  twelfth  century  renaissance 
brought  a  notable  revival  of  Roman  law,  medicine,  astronomy,  and 
philosophy ;  by  1200  the  whole  of  Aristotle's  writings  had  become  known  ; 
and  the  general  awakening  produced  immediate  results  in  the  larger 
numbers  of  students  who  flocked  to  places  like  Paris  and  Bologna  where 
exceptional  teachers  were  to  be  found. 

Out  of  these  conditions  grew  the  earliest  of  the  universities.     No 

definite  dates  for  the  beginnings  of  Paris,  Bologna,  Oxford,  etc.,  can 

be  assigned,  but  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  are  to  be  considered 

their  great  formative  period.     Bologna  was  specifically  the  creation  of 

the  revived  study  of  the  Roman  law  and  of  the  fame  of  the  great  law 

teacher  Irnerius.    The  university  sprang  from  a  series  of  organizations 

1  That  is,  the  trivium  (Latin  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  logic)  and  the  quad- 
rivium  (arithmetic,  geometry,  astronomy,  and  music). 

339 


340  UNIVERSITIES  AND   STUDENT  LIFE 

effected  first  by  the  students  and  later  by  the  masters,  or  teachers,  and 
modeled  after  the  guilds  of  workmen.  It  became  the  pattern  for  most  of 
the  later  Italian  and  Spanish  universities.  Paris  arose  in  a  different 
way.  It  grew  directly  out  of  the  great  cathedral  school  of  Notre  Dame 
and,  unlike  Bologna,  was  an  organization  at  the  outset  of  masters  rather 
than  of  students.  It  was  presided  over  by  the  chancellor,  who  had  had 
charge  of  education  in  the  cathedral  and  who  retained  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  granting  licenses  to  teach  (the  licentia  docendi),  or,  in  other 
words,  degrees.1  Rising  to  prominence  in  the  twelfth  century,  especially 
by  virtue  of  the  teaching  of  Abelard  (1079-1142),  Paris  became  in  time 
the  greatest  university  of  the  Middle  Ages,  exerting  profound  influence 
not  only  on  learning,  but  also  on  the  Church  and  even  at  times  on  political 
affairs.  The  universities  of  the  rest  of  France,  as  well  as  the  German 
universities  and  Oxford  and  Cambridge  in  England,  were  copied  pretty 
closely  after  Paris. 

60.  Privileges  Granted  to  Students  and  Masters 

Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  numerous  special  favors  were  showered 
upon  the  universities  and  their  students  by  the  Church.  Patronage  and 
protection  from  the  secular  authorities  were  less  to  be  depended  on, 
though  the  courts  of  kings  were  not  infrequently  the  rendezvous  of 
scholars,  and  the  greater  seats  of  learning  after  the  eleventh  century 
generally  owed  their  prosperity,  if  not  their  origin,  to  the  liberality  of 
monarchs  such  as  Frederick  Barbarossa  or  Philip  Augustus.  The 
recognition  of  the  universities  by  the  temporal  powers  came  as  a  rule 
earlier  than  that  by  the  Church.  The  edict  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  I., 
which  comprises  selection  (a)  below,  was  issued  in  1158  and  is  not  to 
be  considered  as  limited  in  its  application  to  the  students  of  any  par- 
ticular university,  though  many  writers  have  associated  it  solely  with 

1  The  earliest  degrees  granted  at  Bologna,  Paris,  etc.,  were  those  of  master 
of  arts  and  doctor  of  philosophy.  "Master"  and  "Doctor"  were  practically 
equivalent  terms  and  both  signified  simply  that  the  bearer,  after  suitable 
examinations,  had  been  recognized  as  sufficiently  proficient  to  be  admitted 
to  the  guild  of  teachers.  The  bachelor's  degree  grew  up  more  obscurely. 
It  might  be  taken  somewhere  on  the  road  to  the  master's  degree,  but  was 
merely  an  incidental  stamp  of  proficiency  up  to  a  certain  stage  of  advance- 
ment. Throughout  mediaeval  times  the  master's,  or  doctor's,  degree,  which 
carried  the  right  to  become  a  teacher,  was  the  normal  goal  and  few  stopped 
short  of  its  attainment. 


PRIVILEGES   GRANTED   TO   STUDENTS   AND   MASTERS       341 

the  University  of  Bologna.  That  the  statute  was  decreed  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  the  Bologna  doctors  of  law  admits  of  little  doubt,  but,  as 
Rashdall  observes,  it  was  "  a  general  privilege  conferred  on  the  student 
class  throughout  the  Lombard  kingdom."  1  By  some  writers  it  is  said 
to  have  been  the  earliest  formal  grant  of  privileges  for  university  stu- 
dents, but  this  cannot  be  true  as  Salerno  (notable  chiefly  for  medical 
studies)  received  such  grants  from  Robert  Guiscard  and  his  son  Roger 
before  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century. 

Until  the  year  1200  the  students  of  Paris  enjoyed  no  privileges  such 
as  those  conferred  upon  the  Italian  institutions  by  Frederick.  In  that 
year  a  tavern  brawl  occurred  between  some  German  students  and 
Parisian  townspeople,  in  which  five  of  the  students  lost  their  lives. 
The  provost  of  the  city,  instead  of  attempting  to  repress  the  disorder, 
took  sides  against  the  students  and  encouraged  the  populace.  Such 
laxity  stirred  the  king,  Philip  Augustus,  to  action.  Fearing  that  the 
students  would  decamp  en  masse,  he  hastened  to  comply  with  their 
appeal  for  redress.  The  provost  and  his  lieutenants  were  arrested 
and  a  decree  was  issued  [given,  in  part,  in  selection  (b)]  exempting 
the  scholars  from  the  operation  of  the  municipal  law  in  criminal  cases. 
Pope  Innocent  III.  at  once  confirmed  the  privileges  and  on  his  part 
relaxed  somewhat  the  vigilance  of  the  Church.  Such  liberal  measures, 
however,  did  not  insure  permanent  peace.  In  less  than  three  decades 
another  conflict  with  the  provost  occurred  which  was  so  serious  as  to 
result  in  a  total  suspension  of  the  university's  activities  for  more  than 
two  years. 

Sources — (a)  Text  in  Monumenta  Germanice  Historica,  Leges  (Pertz  ed.), 
Vol.  II.,  p.  114.  Adapted  from  translation  by  Dana  C.  Munro 
in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  II.,  No.  3, 
pp.  2-4. 

(b)  Text  in  Chartularium  Universitatis  Parisiensis  ["Cartulary  of 
the  University  of  Paris"],  No.  1.,  p.  59.  Adapted  from  trans- 
lation in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  ibid.,  pp.  4-7. 

(a) 

After  a  careful  consideration  of  this  subject  by  the  bishops, 

abbots,  dukes,  counts,  judges,  and  other  nobles  of  our  sacred 

palace,  we,  from  our  piety,  have  granted  this  privilege  to  all 

i  Hastings  Rashdall,  The  Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  (Ox- 
ford, 1895),  Vol.  I,,  p.  146. 


342  UNIVERSITIES   AND   STUDENT  LIFE 

scholars  who  travel  for  the  sake  of  study,  and  especially  to  the 
professors  of  divine  and  sacred  laws,1  namely,  that  they  may 
Security  go  in  safety  to  the  places  in  which  the  studies 

residence^  are  eSLTTie(^  on>  D°th  they  themselves  and  their 
scholars  messengers,   and   may   dwell   there   in   security. 

For  we  think  it  fitting  that,  during  good  behavior,  those  should 
enjoy  our  praise  and  protection,  by  whose  learning  the  world 
is  enlightened  to  the  obedience  of  God  and  of  us,  his  ministers, 
and  the  life  of  the  subject  is  molded;  and  by  a  special  considera- 
tion we  defend  them  from  all  injuries. 

For  who  does  not  pity  those  who  exile  themselves  through 
love  for  learning,  who  wear  themselves  out  in  poverty  in  place 
of  riches,  who  expose  their  lives  to  all  perils  and  often  suffer 
bodily  injury  from  the  vilest  men?  This  must  be  endured  with 
vexation.  Therefore,  we  declare  by  this  general  and  perpetual 
law,  that  in  the  future  no  one  shall  be  so  rash  as  to  venture  to 
Regulation  inflict  any  injury  on  scholars,  or  to  occasion  any 
the^oUection  ^oss  to  tnem  on  account  of  a  debt  owed  by  an 
of  debts  inhabitant  of  their  province — a  thing  which  we 

have  learned  is  sometimes  done  by  an  evil  custom.2  And  let  it 
be  known  to  the  violators  of  this  constitution,  and  also  to  those 
who  shall  at  the  time  be  the  rulers  of  the  places,  that  a  fourfold 
restitution  of  property  shall  be  exacted  from  all  and  that,  the 
mark  of  infamy  being  affixed  to  them  by  the  law  itself,  they 
shall  lose  their  office  forever. 

Moreover,  if  any  one  shall  presume  to  bring  a  suit  against  them 
on  account  of  any  business,  the  choice  in  this  matter  shall  be 
J  di  al  given   to   the   scholars,   who  may   summon  the 

privileges  of  accusers  to  appear  before  their  professors  or  the 
bishop  of  the  city,  to  whom  we  have  given  juris- 
diction in  this  matter.3     But  if,  indeed,  the  accuser  shall  attempt 

1  Evidently,  from  other  passages ,  including  students  of  law  as  well  as  teachers. 

2  Greedy  creditors  sometimes  compelled  students  to  pay  debts  owed  by 
the  fellow-countrymen  of  the  latter — a  very  thinly  disguised  form  of  robbery. 
This  abuse  was  now  to  be  abolished. 

3  That  is,  in  any  legal  proceedings  against  a  scholar  the  defendant  was  to 


PRIVILEGES   GRANTED   TO   STUDENTS   AND    MASTERS       343 

to  drag  the  scholar  before  another  judge,  even  if  his  cause  is  a 
very  just  one,  he  shall  lose  his  suit  for  such  an  attempt. 

(b) 

Concerning  the  safety  of  the  students  at  Paris  in  the  future, 
by  the  advice  of  our  subjects  we  have  ordained  as  follows: 

We  will  cause  all  the  citizens  of  Paris  to  swear  that  if  any  one 
sees  an  injury  done  to  any  student  by  any  layman,1  he  will 
testify  truthfully  to  this,  nor  will  any  one  withdraw  in  order  not 
to  see  [the  act].  And  if  it  shall  happen  that  any  one  strikes  a 
student,  except  in  self-defense,  especially  if  he  strikes  the  student 
with  a  weapon,  a  club,  or  a  stone,  all  laymen  who  see  [the  act] 
Protection  shall  in  good  faith  seize  the  malefactor,  or  male- 

against° crimes  factors>  an^  deliver  them  to  our  judge;  nor  shall 
of  violence  they  run  away  in  order  not  to  see  the  act,  or 

seize  the  malefactor,  or  testify  to  the  truth.  Also,  whether  the 
malefactor  is  seized  in  open  crime  or  not,  we  will  make  a  legal 
and  full  examination  through  clerks,  or  laymen,  or  certain  lawful 
persons;  and  our  count  and  our  judges  shall  do  the  same.  And 
if  by  a  full  examination  we,  or  our  judges,  are  able  to  learn  that 
he  who  is  accused,  is  guilty  of  the  crime,  then  we,  or  our  judges, 
shall  immediately  inflict  a  penalty,  according  to  the  quality  and 
nature  of  the  crime;  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  criminal 
may  deny  the  deed  and  say  that  he  is  ready  to  defend  himself 
in  single  combat,  or  to  purge  himself  by  the  ordeal  by  water.2 

Also,  neither  our  provost  nor  our  judges  shall  lay  hands  on  a 
student  for  any  offense  whatever;  nor  shall  they  place  him  in 

choose  whether  he  would  be  tried  before  his  own  master  or  before  the  bishop. 
In  later  times  this  right  of  choice  passed  generally  to  the  plaintiff. 

1  The  students  of -the  French  universities  were  regarded  as,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  members  of  the  clergy  (clerici)  and  thus  to  be  distinguished  from 
laymen.  They  were  not  clergy  in  the  full  sense,  but  were  subject  to  a  special 
sort  of  jurisdiction  closely  akin  to  that  applying  to  the  clergy. 

2  The  law  on  this  point  was  exceptionally  severe.  The  privilege  of  estab- 
lishing innocence  by  combat  or  the  ordeal  by  water  was  denied,  though  even 
the  provost  and  his  subordinates  who  had  played  false  in  the  riot  of  1200 
had  been  given  the  opportunity  of  clearing  themselves  by  such  means  if 
they  chose  and  could  do  so. 


344  UNIVERSITIES   AND   STUDENT   LIFE 

our  prison,  unless  such  a  crime  has  been  committed  by  the 
student,  that  he  ought  to  be  arrested.  And  in  that  case,  our 
judge  shall  arrest  him  on  the  spot,  without  striking  him  at  all, 
unless  he  resists,  and  shall  hand  him  over  to  the  ecclesiastical 
judge,1  who  ought  to  guard  him  in  order  to  satisfy  us  and  the 
one  suffering  the  injury.  And  if  a  serious  crime  has  been  com- 
mitted, our  judge  shall  go  or  shall  send  to  see  what  is  done  with 
the  student.  If,  indeed,  the  student  does  not  resist  arrest  and 
yet  suffers  any  injury,  we  will  exact  satisfaction  for  it,  accord- 
Scholars  to  be  mS  to  the  aforesaid  examination  and  the  afore- 
tried  and  pun-  said  oath.  Also  our  judges  shall  not  lay  hands 
ished  under 
ecclesiastical       on  the  chattels  of  the  students  of  Paris  for  any 

authority  crime  whatever.     But  if  it  shall  seem  that  these 

ought  to  be  sequestrated,  they  shall  be  sequestrated  and  guarded 
after  sequestration  by  the  ecclesiastical  judge,  in  order  that 
whatever  is  judged  legal  by  the  Church  may  be  done  with  the 
chattels.2  But  if  students  are  arrested  by  our  count  at  such 
an  hour  that  the  ecclesiastical  judge  cannot  be  found  and  be 
present  at  once,  our  provost  shall  cause  the  culprits  to  be  guarded 
in  some  student's  house  without  any  ill-treatment,  as  is  said 
above,  until  they  are  delivered  to  the  ecclesiastical  judge. 

In  order,  moreover,  that  these  [decrees]  may  be  kept  more 
carefully  and  may  be  established  forever  by  a  fixed  law,  we  have 
decided  that  our  present  provost  and  the  people  of  Paris  shall 
The  oath  re-  affirm  by  an  oath,  in  the  presence  of  the  scholars, 
Drovost°ande  tna^  tnev  will  carry  out  in  good  faith  all  the 
people  of  Paris  above-mentioned  [regulations].  And  always  in 
the  future,  whosoever  receives  from  us  the  office  of  provost  in 
Paris,  among  the  inaugural  acts  of  his  office,  namely,  on  the  first 
or  second  Sunday,  in  one  of  the  churches  of  Paris — after  he  has 
been  summoned  for  the  purpose — shall  affirm  by  an  oath,  pub- 
licly in  the  presence  of  the  scholars,  that  he  will  keep  in  good 

1  A  further  recognition  of  the  clerical  character  of  the  students. 

2  The  property,  as  the  persons,  of  the  scholars  was  protected  from  seizure 
except  by  the  church  authorities. 


FOUNDATION   OF  THE    UNIVERSITY  OF  HEIDELBERG       345 

faith  all  the  above-mentioned  [regulations].1  And  that  these 
decrees  may  be  valid  forever,  we  have  ordered  this  document 
to  be  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  our  seal  and  by  the  char- 
acters of  the  royal  name  signed  below. 

61.   The  Foundation  of  the  University  of  Heidelberg  (1386) 

Until  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  Germany  possessed  no 
university.  In  the  earlier  mediaeval  period,  when  palace  and  monastic 
schools  were  multiplying  in  France,  Italy,  and  England,  German  cul- 
ture was  too  backward  to  permit  of  a  similar  movement  beyond  the 
Rhine;  and  later,  when  in  other  countries  universities  were  springing 
into  prosperity,  political  dissensions  long  continued  to  thwart  such 
enterprises  among  the  Germans.  Germany  was  not  untouched  by  the 
intellectual  movements  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  but  her 
young  men  were  obliged  to  seek  their  learning  at  Oxford  or  Paris  or 
Bologna.  The  first  German  university  was  that  of  Prague,  in  Bohemia, 
founded  by  Emperor  Charles  IV.,  a  contemporary  of  Petrarch,  and 
chartered  in  1348.  Once  begun,  the  work  of  establishing  such  institu- 
tions went  on  rapidly,  until  ere  long  every  principality  of  note  had  its 
own  university.  Vienna  was  founded  in  1365,  Erfurt  was  given  papal 
sanction  in  1379,  Heidelberg  was  established  in  1386,  and  Cologne 
followed  in  1388.  The  document  given  below  is  the  charter  of  privileges 
issued  for  Heidelberg  in  October,  1386,  by  the  founder,  Rupert  I.,  Count 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine.  Marsilius  Inghen  became  the  first  rector  of  the 
university.  He  and  two  other  masters  began  lecturing  October  19, 
1386 — one  on  logic,  another  on  the  epistle  to  Titus,  the  third  on  the 
philosophy  of  Aristotle.  Within  four  years  over  a  thousand  students 
had  been  in  attendance  at  the  university. 

Source — Text  in  Edward  Winkelmann,  Urkundenbuch  der  Universitdt 
Heidelberg  ["Cartulary  of  the  University  of  Heidelberg''],  Heidel- 
berg, 1886,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  5-6.  Translated  in  Ernest  F.  Henderson, 
Select  Historical  Documents  of  the  Middle  Ages  (London,  1896), 
pp.  262-266. 

1.   We,  Rupert  the  elder,  by  the  grace  of  God  count  palatine 

of  the  Rhine,  elector  of  the  Holy  Empire,2  and  duke  of  Bavaria, 

1  In  this  capacity  the  provost  of  Paris  came  to  be  known  as  the  "Conserva- 
tor of  the  Royal  Privileges  of  the  University." 

?  For  an  explanation  of  the  phrase  "  elector  of  the  Holy  Empire  "  see  p.  409, 


346  UNIVERSITIES  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

— lest  we  seem  to  abuse  the  privilege  conceded  to  us  by  the 
apostolic  see  of  founding  a  place  of  study  at  Heidelberg  similar 
to  that  at  Paris,  and  lest,  for  this  reason,  being  subjected  to  the 
divine  judgment,  we  should  deserve  to  be  deprived  of  the  privi- 
lege granted — do  decree,  with  provident  counsel  (which  decree 
is  to  be  observed  unto  all  time),  that  the  University  of  Heidel- 
berg shall  be  ruled,  disposed,  and  regulated  according  to  the 
modes  and  manners  accustomed  to  be  observed  in  the  University 
The  university  of  Paris.1  Also  that,  as  a  handmaid  of  Paris — 
izedonThe  "  a  wortny  one  ^  us  noPe — the  latter's  steps  shall 
model  of  Paris  be  imitated  in  every  way  possible;  so  that, 
namely,  there  shall  be  four  faculties  in  it:  the  first,  of  sacred 
theology  and  divinity;  the  second,  of  canon  and  civil  law,  which, 
by  reason  of  their  similarity,  we  think  best  to  comprise  under 
one  faculty;  the  third,  of  medicine;  the  fourth,  of  liberal  arts — 
of  the  three-fold  philosophy,  namely,  primal,  natural,  and  moral, 
three  mutually  subservient  daughters.2  We  wish  this  institu- 
tion to  be  divided  and  marked  out  into  four  nations,  as  it  is  at 
Paris;  3  and  that  all  these  faculties  shall  make  one  university, 
and  that  to  it  the  individual  students,  in  whatever  of  the  said 
faculties  they  are,  shall  unitedly  belong  like  lawful  sons  to  one 
mother. 

Likewise  [we  desire]  that  this  university  shall  be  governed  by 
one  rector,4  and  that  the  various  masters  and  teachers,  before 
they  are  admitted  to  the  common  pursuits  of  our  institution, 

1  Rupert  had  sent  sums  of  money  to  Rome  to  induce  Pope  Urban  VI.  to 
approve  the  foundation  of  the  university.  The  papal  bull  of  1385,  which  was 
the  reward  of  his  effort,  specifically  enjoined  that  the  university  be  modeled 
closely  after  that  of  Paris. 

2  Trie  mediaeval  "three  philosophies"  were  introduced  by  the  rediscovery 
of  some  of  Aristotle's  writings  in  the  twelfth  century.  Primal  philosophy 
was  what  we  now  know  as  metaphysics;  natural  philosophy  meant  the 
sciences  of  physics,  botany,  etc.;  and  moral  philosophy  denoted  ethics  and 
politics. 

3  At  Paris  the  students  were  divided  into  four  groups,  named  from  the 
nationality  which  predominated  in  each  of  them  at  the  time  of  its  forma- 
tion— the  French,  the  Normans,  the  Picards,  and  the  English. 

4  The  rector  at  Paris  was  head  of  the  faculty  of  arts. 


FOUNDATION    OF   THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   HEIDELBERG        347 

shall  swear  to  observe  the  statutes,  laws,  privileges,  liberties,  and 
franchises  of  the  same,  and  not  reveal  its  secrets,  to  whatever 
grade  they  may  rise.  Also  that  they  will  uphold  the  honor  of 
the  rector  and  the  rectorship  of  our  university,  and  will  obey 
The  obligations  the  rector  in  all  things  lawful  and  honest,  what- 
of  the  masters  ever  ^e  the  gracje  to  which  they  may  afterwards 
happen  to  be  promoted.  Moreover,  that  the  various  masters 
and  bachelors  shall  read  their  lectures  and  exercise  their  scholas- 
tic functions  and  go  about  in  caps  and  gowns  of  a  uniform  and 
similar  nature,  according  as  has  been  observed  at  Paris  up  to 
this  time  in  the  different  faculties. 

And  we*  will  that  if  any  faculty,  nation,  or  person  shall  op- 
pose the  aforesaid  regulations,  or  stubbornly  refuse  to  obey  them, 
or  any  one  of  them — which  God  forbid — from  that  time  for- 
ward that  same  faculty,  nation,  or  person,  if  it  do  not  desist  upon 
being  warned,  shall  be  deprived  of  all  connection  with  our  afore- 
said institution,  and  shall  not  have  the  benefit  of  our  defense  or 
Internal  gov-      protection.     Moreover,  we  will  and  ordain  that 

ernment  of  the  as  the  university  as  a  whole  may  do  for  those 
university  fur- 
ther provided     assembled  here  and  subject  to  it,  so  each  faculty, 

nation,  or  province  of  it  may  enact  lawful  stat- 
utes, such  as  are  suitable  to  its  needs,  provided  that  through  them, 
or  any  one  of  them,  no  prejudice  is  done  to  the  above  regulations 
and  to  our  institution,  and  that  no  kind  of  impediment  arise 
from  them.  And  we  will  that  when  the  separate  bodies  shall 
have  passed  the  statutes  for  their  own  observance,  they  may 
make  them  perpetually  binding  on  those  subject  to  them  and 
on  their  successors.  And  as  in  the  University  of  Paris  the 
various  servants  of  the  institution  have  the  benefit  of  the  various 
privileges  which  its  masters  and  scholars  enjoy,  so  in  starting 
our  institution  in  Heidelberg,  we  grant,  with  even  greater 
liberality,  through  these  presents,  that  all  the  servants,  i.e.,  its 
pedells,1    librarians,    lower    officials,    preparers    of    parchment, 

1  Equivalent  to  bedel.    All  mediaeval  universities  had  their  bedels,  who 


348  UNIVERSITIES  AND   STUDENT  LIFE 

scribes,  illuminators  and  others  who  serve  it,  may  each  and  all, 
without  fraud,  enjoy  in  it  the  same  privileges,  franchises,  im- 
munities and  liberties  with  which  its  masters  or  scholars  are 
now  or  shall  hereafter  be  endowed. 

2.  Lest  in  the  new  community  of  the  city  of  Heidelberg,  their 
misdeeds  being  unpunished,  there  be  an  incentive  to  the  scholars 
of  doing  wrong,  we  ordain,  with  provident  counsel,  by  these  pres- 
ents, that  the  bishop  of  Worms,  as  judge  ordinary  of  the  clerks 
of  our  institution,  shall  have  and  possess,  now  and  hereafter 
while  our  institution  shall  last,  prisons,  and  an  office  in  our 
town  of  Heidelberg  for  the  detention  of  criminal  clerks.  These 
The  jurisdic-  things  we  have  seen  fit  to  grant  to  him  and  his 
bishop  of6  successors,  adding  these  conditions:   that  he  shall 

Worms  permit  no  clerk  to  be  arrested  unless  for  a  mis- 

demeanor; that  he  shall  restore  any  one  detained  for  such  fault,  or 
for  any  light  offense,  to  his  master,  or  to  the  rector  if  the  latter  asks 
for  him,  a  promise  having  been  given  that  the  culprit  will  appear 
in  court  and  that  the  rector  or  master  will  answer  for  him  if  the 
injured  parties  should  go  to  law  about  ^he  matter.  Furthermore, 
that,  on  being  requested,  he  will  restore  a  clerk  arrested  for  a 
crime  on  slight  evidence,  upon  receiving  a  sufficient  pledge — 
sponsors  if  the  prisoner  can  obtain  them,  otherwise  an  oath  if 
he  cannot  obtain  sponsors — to  the  effect  that  he  will  answer  in 
court  the  charges  against  him;  and  in  all  these  things  there  shall 
be  no  pecuniary  exactions,  except  that  the  clerk  shall  give  satis- 
Conditions  of  faction,  reasonably  and  according  to  the  rule  of 
imprisonment  ^he  aforementioned  town,  for  the  expenses  which 
he  incurred  while  in  prison.  And  we  desire  that  he  will  detain 
honestly  and  without  serious  injury  a  criminal  clerk  thus  ar- 
rested for  a  crime  where  the  suspicion  is  grave  and  strong,  until 
the  truth  can  be  found  out  concerning  the  deed  of  which  he  is 

bore  the  mace  of  authority  before  the  rectors  on  public  occasions,  made 
announcements  of  lectures,  book  sales,  etc.,  and  exercised  many  of  the 
functions  of  the  modern  bedel  of  European  universities. 


FOUNDATION   OF  THE   UNIVERSITY    OF  HEIDELBERG        349 

suspected.  And  he  shall  not  for  any  cause,  moreover,  take  away 
any  clerk  from  our  aforesaid  town,  or  permit  him  to  be  taken 
away,  unless  the  proper  observances  have  been  followed,  and 
he  has  been  condemned  by  judicial  sentence  to  perpetual  im- 
prisonment for  a  crime. 

We  command  our  advocate  and  bailiff  and  their  servants  in 
our  aforesaid  town,  under  pain  of  losing  their  offices  and  our 
favor,  not  to  lay  a  detaining  hand  on  any  master  or  scholar  of 
our   said   institution,  nor   to  arrest   him   or  allow  him   to  be 

_.    ..".-..  arrested,    unless    the   deed    be    such    that   that 

Limitations 

upon  power  to  master  or  scholar  ought  rightly  to  be  detained. 
He  shall  be  restored  to  his  rector  or  master,  if  he 
is  held  for  a  slight  cause,  provided  he  will  swear  and  promise  to 
appear  in  court  concerning  the  matter;  and  we  decree  that  a 
slight  fault  is  one  for  which  a  layman,  if  he  had  committed  it, 
ought  to  have  been  condemned  to  a  light  pecuniary  fine.  Like- 
wise, if  the  master  or  scholar  detained  be  found  gravely  or 
strongly  suspected  of  the  crime,  we  command  that  he  be  handed 
over  by  our  officials  to  the  bishop  or  to  his  representative  in  our 
said  town,  to  be  kept  in  custody. 

3.  By  the  tenor  of  these  presents  we  grant  to  each  and  all 
the  masters  and  scholars  that,  when  they  come  to  the  said  in- 
stitution, while  they  remain  there,  and  also  when  they  return 
from  it  to  their  homes,  they  may  freely  carry  with  them,  both 
coming  and  going,  throughout  all  the  lands  subject  to  us,  all 
things  which  they  need  while  pursuing  their  studies,  and  all  the 
Students  ex-  goods  necessary  for  their  support,  without  any 
vanousim°-m  dut^'  levy>  imP°sts,  tolls,  excises,  or  other  ex- 
posts  actions  whatever.  And  we  wish  them  and  each 
one  of  them,  to  be  free  from  the  aforesaid  imposts  when  purchas- 
ing corn,  wines,  meat,  fish,  clothes  and  all  things  necessary  for 
their  living  and  for  their  rank.  And  we  decree  that  the  scholars 
from  their  stock  in  hand  of  provisions,  if  there  remain  over  one 
or  two  wagonloads  of  wine  without  their  having  practised  de- 


350  UNIVERSITIES   AND    STUDENT   LIFE 

ception,  may,  after  the  feast  of  Easter  of  that  year,  sell  it  at 
wholesale  without  paying  impost.  We  grant  to  them,  moreover, 
that  each  day  the  scholars,  of  themselves  or  through  their  serv- 
ants, may  be  allowed  to  buy  in  the  town  of  Heidelberg,  at  the 
accustomed  hour,  freely  and  without  impediment  or  hurtful 
delay,  any  eatables  or  other  necessaries  of  life. 

4.  Lest  the  masters  and  scholars  of  our  institution  of  Heidel- 
berg may  be  oppressed  by  the  citizens,  moved  by  avarice, 
through  extortionate  prices  of  lodgings,  we  have  seen  fit  to 
decree  that  henceforth  each  year,  after  Christmas,  one  expert 
from  the  university  on  the  part  of  the  scholars,  and  one  prudent, 
How  rates  for  Pi°us>  an<^  circumspect  citizen  on  the  part  of  the 
lodgings  should  citizens,  shall  be  authorized  to  determine  the 
price  of  the  students'  lodgings.  Moreover,  we  will 
and  decree  that  the  various  masters  and  scholars  shall,  through 
our  bailiff,  our  judge  and  the  officials  subject  to  us,  be  defended 
and  maintained  in  the  quiet  possession  of  the  lodgings  given  to 
them  free  or  of  those  for  which  they  pa/  rent.  Moreover,  by  the 
tenor  of  these  presents,  we  grant  to  the  rector  and  the  university, 
or  to  those  designated  by  them,  entire  jurisdiction  concerning 
the  payment  of  rents  for  the  lodgings  occupied  by  the  students, 
concerning  the  making  and  buying  of  books,  and  the  borrowing 
of  money  for  other  purposes  by  the  scholars  of  our  institution; 
also  concerning  the  payment  of  assessments,  together  with 
everything  that  arises  from,  depends  upon,  and  is  connected  with 
these. 

In  addition,  we  command  our  officials  that,  when  the  rector 
requires  our  and  their  aid  and  assistance  for  carrying  out  his 
sentences  against  scholars  who  try  to  rebel,  they  shall  assist  our 
clients  and  servants  in  this  matter;  first,  however,  obtaining 
lawful  permission  to  proceed  against  clerks  from  the  lord  bishop 
of  Worms,  or  from  one  deputed  by  him  for  this  purpose. 


SONGS  351 

62.   Mediaeval  Students'  Songs 

"When  we  try  to  picture  to  ourselves,''  says  Mr.  Symonds  in  one  of 
his  felicitous  passages,  "the  intellectual  and  moral  state  of  Europe  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  some  fixed  and  almost  stereotyped  ideas  immediately 
suggest  themselves.  We  think  of  the  nations  immersed  in  a  gross  mental 
lethargy ;  passively  witnessing  the  gradual  extinction  of  arts  and  sciences 
which  Greece  and  Rome  had  splendidly  inaugurated;  allowing  libraries 
and  monuments  of  antique  civilization  to  crumble  into  dust;  while  they 
trembled  under  a  dull  and  brooding  terror  of  coming  judgment,  shrank 
from  natural  enjoyment  as  from  deadly  sin,  or  yielded  themselves  with 
brutal  eagerness  to  the  satisfaction  of  vulgar  appetites.  Preoccupation 
with  the  other  world  in  this  long  period  weakens  man's  hold  upon  the 
things  that  make  his  life  desirable.  .  .  .  Prolonged  habits  of  extra- 
mundane  contemplation,  combined  with  the  decay  of  real  knowledge, 
volatilize  the  thoughts  and  aspirations  of  the  best  and  wisest  into  dreamy 
unrealities,  giving  a  false  air  of  mysticism  to  love,  shrouding  art  in  alle- 
gory, reducing  the  interpretation  of  texts  to  an  exercise  of  idle  ingenuity, 
and  the  study  of  nature  to  an  insane  system  of  grotesque  and  pious 
quibbling.  The  conception  of  man's  fall  and  of  the  incurable  badness  of 
this  world  bears  poisonous  fruit  of  cynicism  and  asceticism,  that  two- 
fold bitter  almond  hidden  in  the  harsh  monastic  shell.  Nature  is  re- 
garded with  suspicion  and  aversion ;  the  flesh,  with  shame  and  loathing, 
broken  by  spasmodic  outbursts  of  lawless  self-indulgence/'1 

All  of  these  ideas  are  properly  to  be  associated  with  the  Middle  Ages, 
but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  represent  only  one  side  of  the 
picture.  They  are  drawn  very  largely  from  the  study  of  monastic 
literature  and  produce  a  somewhat  distorted  impression.  Though  many 
conditions  prevailing  in  mediaeval  times  operated  strongly  to  paralyze 
the  intellects  and  consciences  of  men,  the  fundamental  manifestations 
and  expressions  of  human  instinct  and  vitality  were  far  from  crushed 
out.  The  life  of  many  people  was  full  and  varied  and  positive — not 
so  different,  after  all,  from  that  of  men  and  women  to-day.  That  this 
was  true  is  demonstrated  by  a  wealth  of  literature  reflecting  the  jovial 
and  exuberant  aspects  of  mediaeval  life,  which  has  come  down  to  us 

i  John  Addington  Symonds,  Wine,  Women  and  Song:  Mediceval  Latin 
Students'  Songs  (London,  1884),  pp.  1-3. 


352  UNIVERSITIES   AND   STUDENT  LIFE 

chiefly  in  two  great  groups — the  poetry  of  the  troubadours  and  the  songs 
of  the  wandering  students.  "That  so  bold,  so  fresh,  so  natural,  so  pagan 
a  view  of  life,"  continues  Mr.  Symonds  in  the  passage  quoted,  "as  the 
Latin  songs  of  the  Wandering  Students  exhibit,  should  have  found  clear 
and  artistic  utterance  in  the  epoch  of  the  Crusades,  is  indeed  enough  to 
bid  us  pause  and  reconsider  the  justice  of  our  stereotyped  ideas  about 
that  period.  This  literature  makes  it  manifest  that  the  ineradicable 
appetites  and  natural  instincts  of  men  and  women  were  no  less  vigorous 
in  fact,  though  less  articulate  and  self-assertive,  than  they  had  been  in 
the  age  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  than  they  afterwards  displayed  them- 
selves in  what  is  known  as  the  Renaissance.  The  songs  of  the  Wandering 
Students  were  composed  for  the  most  part  in  the  twelfth  century. 
Uttering  the  unrestrained  emotions  of  men  attached  by  a  slender  tie 
to  the  dominant  clerical  class  and  diffused  over  all  countries,  they 
bring  us  face  to  face  with  a  body  of  opinion  which  finds  in  studied 
chronicle  or  labored  dissertation  of  the  period  no  echo.  On  the  one  side, 
they  express  that  delight  in  life  and  physical  enjoyment  which  was  a 
main  characteristic  of  the  Renaissance;  on  the  other,  they  proclaim  that 
revolt  against  the  corruption  of  Papal  Rome  which  was  the  motive  force 
of  the  Reformation.  Who  were  these  Wandering  Students?  As  their 
name  implies,  they  were  men,  and  for  the  most  part  young  men,  travel- 
ing from  university  to  university  in  search  of  knowledge.  Far  from 
their  homes,  without  responsibilities,  light  of  purse  and  light  of  heart, 
careless  and  pleasure-seeking,  they  ran  a  free,  disreputable  course, 
frequenting  taverns  at  least  as  much  as  lecture-rooms,  more  capable  of 
pronouncing  judgment  upon  wine  or  woman  than  upon  a  problem  of 
divinity  or  logic.  These  pilgrims  to  the  shrines  of  knowledge  formed  a 
class  apart.  According  to  tendencies  prevalent  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
they  became  a  sort  of  guild,  and  with  pride  proclaimed  themselves  an 
Order."  l 

Our  knowledge  of  the  mediaeval  students'  songs  is  derived  from  two 
principal  sources:  (1)  a  richly  illuminated  thirteenth-century  manuscript 
now  preserved  at  Munich  and  edited  in  1847  under  the  title  Carmina 
Burana;  and  (2)  another  thirteenth-century  manuscript  published  (with 
other  materials)  in  1841  under  the  title  Latin  Poems  commonly  attributed 
to  Walter  Mapes.  Many  songs  occur  in  both  collections.  The  half- 
i  Symonds,  Wine,  Women,  and  Song,  pp.  5-20  passim. 


MEDIAEVAL   STUDENTS'    SONGS  353 

dozen  given  in  translation  below  very  well  illustrate  the  subjects,  tone, 
and  style  of  these  interesting  bits  of  literature. 

Source — Texts  in  Ed&estand  du  Meril,  Poesies  Populaires  Latines  du  Moyen 
Age  ["Popular  Latin  Poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages"],  Paris,  1847, 
passim.  Translated  in  John  Addington  Symonds,  Wine,  Women, 
and  Song:  Mediaeval  Latin  Students'  Songs  (London,  1884),  pp.  12- 
136,  passim. 

The  first  is  a  tenth  century  piece,  marked  by  an  element  of  tenderness 
in  sentiment  which  is  essentially  modern.  It  is  the  invitation  of  a  young 
man  to  his  mistress,  bidding  her  to  a  little  supper  at  his  home. 

"Come  therefore  now,  my  gentle  fere, 
Whom  as  my  heart  I  hold  full  dear; 
Enter  my  little  room,  which  is 
Adorned  with  quaintest  rarities: 
There  are  the  seats  with  cushions  spread, 
The  roof  with  curtains  overhead: 
The  house  with  flowers  of  sweetest  scent 
And  scattered  herbs  is  redolent: 
A  table  there  is  deftly  dight 
With  meats  and  drinks  of  rare  delight; 
There  too  the  wine  flows,  sparkling,  free; 
And  all,  my  love,  to  pleasure  thee. 
There  sound  enchanting  symphonies; 
The  clear  high  notes  of  flutes  arise; 
A  singing  girl  and  artful  boy 
Are  chanting  for  thee  strains  of  joy; 
He  touches  with  his  quill  the  wire, 
She  tunes  her  note  unto  the  lyre: 
The  servants  carry  to  and  fro 
Dishes  and  cups  of  ruddy  glow; 
But  these  delights,  I  will  confess, 
Than  pleasant  converse  charm  me  less; 
Nor  is  the  feast  so  sweet  to  me 
As  dear  familiarity. 
Med.  Hist.— 23 


354  UNIVERSITIES  AND   STUDENT  LIFE 

Then  come  now,  sister  of  my  heart, 

That  dearer  than  all  others  art, 

Unto  mine  eyes  thou  shining  sun, 

Soul  of  my  soul,  thou  only  one! 

I  dwelt  alone  in  the  wild  woods, 

And  loved  all  secret  solitudes; 

Oft  would  I  fly  from  tumults  far, 

And  shunned  where  crowds  of  people  are. 

0  dearest,  do  not  longer  stay! 
Seek  we  to  live  and  love  to-day! 

1  cannot  live  without  thee,  sweet! 
Time  bids  us  now  our  love  complete." 


The  next  is  a  begging  petition,  addressed  by  a  student  on  the  road 
to  some  resident  of  the  place  where  he  was  temporarily  staying.  The 
supplication  for  alms,  in  the  name  of  learning,  is  cast  in  the  form  of 
a  sing-song  doggerel. 

I,  a  wandering  scholar  lad, 

Born  for  toil  and  sadness, 
Oftentimes  am  driven  by 

Poverty  to  madness. 

Literature  and  knowledge  I 

Fain  would  still  be  earning, 
Were  it  not  that  want  of  pelf 

Makes  me  cease  from  learning. 

These  torn  clothes  that  cover  me 

Are  too  thin  and  rotten; 
Oft  I  have  to  suffer  cold, 

By  the  warmth  forgotten. 

Scarce  I  can  attend  at  church, 

Sing  God's  praises  duly; 
Mass  and  vespers  both  I  miss, 

Though  I  love  them  truly. 


MEDLEVAL   STUDENTS'    SONGS  355 


Oh,  thou  pride  of  N- 


By  thy  worth  I  pray  thee 
Give  the  suppliant  help  in  need, 
Heaven  will  sure  repay  thee. 

Take  a  mind  unto  thee  now 
Like  unto  St.  Martin;  2 

Clothe  the  pilgrim's  nakedness, 
Wish  him  well  at  parting. 

So  may  God  translate  your  soul 

Into  peace  eternal, 
And  the  bliss  of  saints  be  yours 

In  His  realm  supernal. 


The  following  jovial  Song  of  the  Open  Road  throbs  with  exhilaration 
and  even  impudence.  Two  vagabond  students  are  drinking  together 
before  they  part.  One  of  them  undertakes  to  expound  the  laws  of  the 
brotherhood  which  bind  them  together.  The  refrain  is  intended  ap- 
parently to  imitate  a  bugle  call. 

We  in  our  wandering, 
Blithesome  and  squandering, 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Eat  to  satiety, 
Drink  to  propriety; 

Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Laugh  till  our  sides  we  split, 
Rags  on  our  hides  we  fit; 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

1  This  is  the  only  indication  of  the  name  of  the  place  where  the  suppliant 
student  was  supposed  to  be  making  his  petition. 

2  St.  Martin  was  the  founder  of  the  monastery  at  Tours  [see  p.  48]. 


356  UNIVERSITIES  AND   STUDENT   LIFE 

Jesting  eternally, 
Quaffing  infernally. 

Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Craft's  in  the  bone  of  us, 
Fear  'tis  unknown  of  us; 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

When  we're  in  neediness, 
Thieve  we  with  greediness: 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Brother  catholical, 
Man  apostolical, 

Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Say  what  you  will  have  done, 
What  you  ask  'twill  be  done! 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Folk,  fear  the  toss  of  the 
Horns  of  philosophy ! 

Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Here  comes  a  quadruple 
Spoiler  and  prodigal!  ! 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

License  and  vanity 
Pamper  insanity: 

Tara,  tantara,  teino! 


1  "  Honest  folk  are  jeeringly  bidden  to  beware  of  the  quadrimum  [see  p. 
339],  which  is  apt  to  form  a  fourfold  rogue  instead  of  a  scholar  in  four 
branches  of  knowledge." — Symonds,  Wine,  Women,  and  Song,  p.  57. 


MEDLEVAL  STUDENTS'    SONGS  357 

As  the  .Pope  bade  us  do, 

Brother  to  brother's  true : 

Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Brother,  best  friend,  adieu! 
Now,  I  must  part  from  you! 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

When  will  our  meeting  be? 
Glad  shall  our  greeting  be! 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Vows  valedictory 
Now  have  the  victory: 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 

Clasped  on  each  other's  breast, 
Brother  to  brother  pressed, 
Tara,  tantara,  teino! 


Here  is  a  song  entitled  The  Vow  to  Cupid. 

Winter,  now  thy  spite  is  spent, 
Frost  and  ice  and  branches  bent ! 
Fogs  and  furious  storms  are  o'er, 
Sloth  and  torpor,  sorrow  frore, 
Pallid  wrath,  lean  discontent. 

Comes  the  graceful  band  of  May ! 
Cloudless  shines  the  limpid  day, 
Shine  by  night  the  Pleiades; 
While  a  grateful  summer  breeze 
Makes  the  season  soft  and  gay. 


358  UNIVERSITIES   AND   STUDENT   LIFE 

Golden  Love!  shine  forth  to  view! 
Souls  of  stubborn  men  subdue! 
See  me  bend!  what  is  thy  mind? 
Make  the  girl  thou  givest  kind, 
And  a  leaping  ram's  thy  due! * 

0  the  jocund  face  of  earth, 
Breathing  with  young  grassy  birth! 
Every  tree  with  foliage  clad, 
Singing  birds  in  greenwood  glad, 
Flowering  fields  for  lovers'  mirth! 


Here  is  another  song  of  exceedingly  delicate  sentiment.    It  is  entitled 
The  Love-Letter  in  Spring. 

Now  the  sun  is  streaming, 

Clear  and  pure  his  ray; 
April's  glad  face  beaming 

On  our  earth  to-day. 
Unto  love  returneth 

Every  gentle  mind; 
And  the  boy-god  burneth 

Jocund  hearts  to  bind. 

All  this  budding  beauty, 

Festival  array, 
Lays  on  us  the  duty 

To  be  blithe  and  gay. 
Trodden  ways  are  known,  lovel 

And  in  this  thy  youth, 
To  retain  thy  own  love 

Were  but  faith  and  truth. 

i  That  is,  as  a  sacrifice. 


MEDLEVAL  STUDENTS'   SONGS  359 

In  faith  love  me  solely, 

Mark  the  faith  of  me, 
From  thy  whole  heart  wholly, 

From  the  soul  of  thee. 
At  this  time  of  bliss,  dear, 

I  am  far  away; 
Those  who  love  like  this,  dear, 

Suffer  every  day! 


Next  to  love  and  the  springtime,  the  average  student  set  his  affections 
principally  on  the  tavern  and  the  wine-bowl.  From  his  proneness  to 
frequent  the  tavern's  jovial  company  of  topers  and  gamesters  naturally 
sprang  a  liberal  supply  of  drinking  songs.  Here  is  a  fragment  from  one 
of  them. 

Some  are  gaming,  some  are  drinking, 

Some  are  living  without  thinking; 

And  of  those  who  make  the  racket, 

Some  are  stripped  of  coat  and  jacket; 

Some  get  clothes  of  finer  feather, 

Some  are  cleaned  out  altogether; 

No  one  there  dreads  death's  invasion, 

But  all  drink  in  emulation. 


Finally  may  be  given,  in  the  original  Latin,  a  stanza  of  a  drinking 
song  which  fell  to  such  depths  of  irreverence  as  to  comprise  a  parody  of 
Thomas  Aquinas 's  hymn  on  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Bibit  hera,  bibit  herus, 
Bibit  miles,  bibit  clerus, 
Bibit  ille,  bibit  ilia, 
Bibit  servus  cum  ancilla, 
Bibit  velox,  bibit  piger, 
Bibit  albus,  bibit  niger, 
Bibit  constans,  bibit  vagus, 
Bibit  rudis,  bibit  magus, 


CHAPTER   XXII. 
THE  FRIARS 

From  the  twelfth  century  onwards  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
features  of  the  internal  development  of  the  mediaeval  Church  was  the 
struggle  to  combat  worldliness  among  ecclesiastics  and  to  preserve  the 
purity  of  doctrine  and  uprightness  of  living  which  had  characterized 
the  primitive  Christian  clergy.  As  the  Middle  Ages  advanced  to  their 
close,  unimpeachable  evidence  accumulates  that  the  Church  was  in- 
creasingly menaced  by  grave  abuses.  This  evidence  appears  not  only 
in  contemporary  records  and  chronicles  but  even  more  strikingly  in  the 
great  protesting  movements  which  spring  up  in  rapid  succession — par- 
ticularly the  rise  of  heretical  sects,  such  as  the  Waldenses  and  the  Albi- 
genses,  and  the  inauguration  of  systematic  efforts  to  regenerate  the  church 
body  without  disrupting  its  unity.  These  latter  efforts  at  first  took  the 
form  of  repeated  revivals  of  monastic  enthusiasm  and  self-denial, 
marked  by  the  founding  of  a  series  of  new  orders  on  the  basis  of  the 
Benedictine  Rule — the  Cluniacs,  the  Carthusians,  the  Cistercians,  and 
others  of  their  kind  [see  p.  245].  This  resource  proving  ineffective,  the 
movement  eventually  came  to  comprise  the  establishment  of  wholly 
new  and  independent  organizations — the  mendicant  orders — on  prin- 
ciples better  adapted  than  were  those  of  monasticism  to  the  successful 
propagation  of  simplicity  and  purity  of  Christian  living.  The  chief  of 
these  new  orders  were  the  Franciscans,  known  also  as  Gray-Friars  and 
as  Minorites,  and  the  Dominicans,  sometimes  called  Black  Friars  or 
Preaching  Friars.  Both  were  founded  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  thir-^ 
teenth  century,  the  one  by  St.  Francis  of  AssTslTtheotRer  by  theSpan- 
ish  nobleman,  St.  Dominic. 

The  friars,  of  whatsoever  type,  are  clearly  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
monks.  In  the  first  place,  their  aims  were  different.  The  monks,  in  so 
far  as  they  were  true  to  their  principles,  lived  in  more  or  less  seclusion 

360 


THE    LIFE   OF   ST.    FRANCIS  361 

from  the  rest  of  the  world  and  gave  themselves  up  largely  to  prayer  and 
meditation;  the  fundamental  purpose  of  the  friars,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  to  mingle  with  their  fellow-men  and  to  spend  their  lives  in  active 
religious  work  among  them.  Whereas  the  old  monasticism  had  been 
essentially  selfish,  the  new  movement  was  above  all  of  a  missionary  and 
philanthropic  character.  In  the  second  place,  the  friars  were  even  more 
strongly  committed  to  a  life  of  poverty  than  were  the  monks,  for  they 
renounced  not  only  individual  property,  as  did  the  monks,  but  also  col- 
lective property,  as  the  monks  did  not.  They  were  expected  to  get  their 
living  either  by  their  own  labor  or  by  begging.  They  did  not  dwell  in 
fixed  abodes,  but  wandered  hither  and  thither  as  inclination  and  duty 
led.  Their  particular  sphere  of  activity  was  the  populous  towns;  unlike 
the  monks,  they  had  no  liking  for  rural  solitudes.  As  one  writer  has 
put  it,  "their  houses  were  built  in  or  near  the  great  towns;  and  to  the 
majority  of  the  brethren  the  houses  of  the  orders  were  mere  temporary 
resting-places  from  which  they  issued  to  make  their  journeys  through 
town  and  country,  preaching  in  the  parish  churches,  or  from  the  steps  of 
the  market-crosses,  and  carrying  their  ministrations  to  every  castle 
and  every  cottage." 

Both  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans  were  exempt  from  control 
by  the  bishops  in  the  various  dioceses  and  were  ardent  supporters  of 
the  papacy,  which  showered  privileges  upon  them  and  secured  in 
them  two  of  its  strongest  allies.  The  organization  of  each  order 
was  elaborate  and  centralized.  At  the  head  was  a  master,  or 
general,  who  resided  at  Rome  and  was  assisted  by  a  "chapter."  All 
Christendom  was  divided  into  provinces,  each  of  which  was  directed 
by  a  prior  and  provincial  chapter.  And  over  each  individual  "house" 
was  placed  a  prior,  or  warden,  appointed  by  the  provincial  chapter. 
In  their  earlier  history  the  zeal  and  achievements  of  the  friars  were 
remarkable.  Nearly  all  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  thirteenth  and  early 
fourteenth  centuries — as  Roger  Bacon,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Dun  Scotus, 
and  Albertus  Magnus — were  members  of  one  of  the  mendicant  orders. 
Unfortunately,  with  the  friars  as  with  the  monks,  prosperity  brought 
decadence ;  and  by  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  their  ardor  had 
cooled  and  their  boasted  self-denial  had  pretty  largely  given  place  to  self- 
indulgence. 


362  THE  FRIARS 

63.   The  Life  of  St.  Francis 

Saint  Francis,  the  founder  of  the  Franciscan  order,  was  born, 
probably  in  1182,  at  Assisi,  a  small  town  in  central  Italy.  His  boyhood 
was  unpromising,  but  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  of  age  a  great 
change  came  over  him,  the  final  result  of  which  was  the  making  of  one 
of  the  most  splendid  and  altogether  lovable  characters  of  the  entire 
Middle  Ages.  From  a  wild,  reckless,  although  cultured,  youth  he  de- 
veloped into  a  sympathetic,  self-denying,  sweet-spirited  saint.  Finding 
himself,  after  his  conversion,  possessed  of  a  natural  loathing  for  the 
destitute  and  diseased,  especially  lepers,  he  disciplined  himself  until  he 
could  actually  take  a  certain  sort  of  pleasure  in  associating  with  these 
outcasts  of  society.  When  his  father,  a  wealthy  and  aristocratic  cloth- 
merchant,  protested  against  this  sort  of  conduct,  the  young  man 
promptly  cast  aside  his  gentlemanly  raiment,  clad  himself  in  the  worn- 
out  garments  of  a  gardener,  and  adopted  the  life  of  the  wandering 
hermit.  In  1209,  in  obedience  to  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  direct  com- 
mission from  heaven,  he  began  definitely  to  imitate  the  early  apostles 
in  his  manner  of  living  and  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the  older  and  purer 
Christianity.  By  1210  he  had  a  small  body  of  followers,  and  in  that  year 
he  sought  and  obtained  Pope  Innocent  III.'s  sanction  of  his  work, 
though  the  papal  approval  was  expressed  only  orally  and  more  than  a 
decade  was  to  elapse  before  the  movement  received  formal  recognition. 
About  1217  Francis  and  his  companions  took  up  missionary  work  on  a 
large  scale.  Members  of  the  brotherhood  were  dispatched  to  England, 
Germany,  France,  Spain,  Hungary,  and  several  other  countries,  with 
instructions  to  spread  the  principles  which  by  this  time  were  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  peculiarly  Franciscan.  The  success  of  these  efforts 
was  considerable,  though  in  some  places  the  brethren  were  ill  treated  and 
an  appeal  had  to  be  made  to  the  Pope  for  protection. 

The  several  selections  given  below  have  been  chosen  to  illustrate  the 
principal  features  of  the  life  and  character  of  St.  Francis.  We  are 
fortunate  in  possessing  a  considerable  amount  of  literature,  contempo- 
rary or  nearly  so,  relating  to  the  personal  career  of  this  noteworthy 
man.  In  the  first  place,  we  have  some  writings  of  St.  Francis  himself — 
the  Rule  (p.  373),  the  Will  (p.  376),  some  poems,  some  reported  sermons, 
and  fragments  of  a  few  letters.    Then  we  have  several  biographies,  of 


THE   LIFE   OF  ST.  FKANCIS  363 

which  the  most  valuable,  because  not  only  the  earliest  but  also  the  least 
conventional,  are  the  Mirror  of  Perfection  and  the  Legend  _ofthe  Three 
Companions.  These  were  written  by  men  who  knew  St.  Francis  inti- 
mately and  who  could  avow  "we  who  were  with  him  have  heard  him 
say"  or  "we  who  were  with  him  have  seen,"  such  and  such  things.  The 
"  three  companions  "  were  Brothers  Leo,  Rufinus,  ancLAngeio — all  men  of 
noble  birth,  the  last-named  being  the  first  soldier  to  be  identified  with 
the  order.  The  Mirror  of  Perfection  was  written  in  1227  by  Brother  Leo, 
who  of  all  men  probably  knew  St.  Francis  best.  It  is  a  vivid  and  fas- 
cinating portrait  drawn  from  life.  The  Legend  of  the  Three  Com- 
panions was  written  in  1246.  The  later  biographies,  such  as  the 
official  Life  by  St.  Bonaventura  (1261)  and  the  Little  Flowers*  of  St. 
Francis  (written  probably  in  the  fourteenth  century),  though  until  re- 
cently the  best  known  of  the  group,  are  relatively  inferior  in  value. 
In  them  the  real  St.  Francis  is  conventionalized  and  much  obscured. 

The  first  passage  here  reproduced  (a)  comes  from  the  Legend  of  the 
Three  Companions;  the  others  (b)  are  taken  from  the  Mirror  of 
Perfection. 

Sources — (a)  Legenda  S.  Francisci  Assisiensis  guce  dicitur  Legenda  trium_ 
sociorum.  Adapted  from  translation  by  E.  G.  Salter,  under 
title  of  "The  Legend  of  the  Three  Companions,"  in  the  Temple 
Classics  (London,  1902),  pp.  8-24,  passim. 

(b)  Speculum  Perfectionis.  Translated  by  Constance,  Countess 
de  la  Warr,  under  title  of  "The  Mirror  of  Perfection"  (London, 
1902),  passim. 

(a) 

Francis,  born  in  the  city  of  Assisi,  which  lies  in  the  confines 
of  the  Vale  of  Spoleto,  was  at  first  named  John  by  his  mother. 
Then,  when  his  father,  in  whose  absence  he  had  been  born,  re- 
turned from  France,  he  was  afterward  named  Francis.1  After 
he  was  grown  up,  and  had  become  of  a  subtle  wit,  he  practiced 
the  art  of  his  father,  that  is,  trade.  But  [he  did  so]  in  a  very 
different  manner,  for  he  was  a  merrier  man  than  was  his  father, 

1  The  father's  name  was  Pietro  Bernardone.  As  a  cloth-merchant  he  was 
probably  accustomed  to  make  frequent  journeys  to  northern  France,  par- 
ticularly Champagne,  which  was  the  principal  seat  of  commercial  exchange 
between  northern  and  southern  Europe. 


364  THE   FRIARS 

and  more  generous,  given  to  jests  and  songs,  going  about  the 
city  of  Assisi  day  and  night  in  company  with  his  kind,  most 
free-handed  in  spending;  insomuch  that  he  consumed  all  his 
income  and  his  profits  in  banquets  and  other  matters.  On  this 
Hs  outhful  account  he  was  often  rebuked  by  his  parents, 
vanities  and  who  told  him  he  ran  into  so  great  expense  on 
himself  and  on  others  that  he  seemed  to  be  no 
son  of  theirs,  but  rather  of  some  mighty  prince.  Nevertheless, 
because  his  parents  were  rich  and  loved  him  most  tenderly,  they 
bore  with  him  in  such  matters,  not  being  disposed  to  chastise 
him.  .Indeed,  his  mother,  when  gossip  arose  among  the  neigh- 
bors concerning  his  prodigal  ways,  made  answer:  "What  think 
ye  of  my  son?  He  shall  yet  be  the  son  of  God  by  grace."  But 
he  himself  was  free-handed,  or  rather  prodigal,  not  only  in  these 
things,  but  even  in  his  clothes  he  was  beyond  measure  sumptuous, 
using  stuffs  more  costly  than  it  befitted  him  to  wear.  So  way- 
ward was  his  fancy  that  at  times  on  the  same  coat  he  would 
cause  a  costly  cloth  to  be  matched  with  one  of  the  meanest  sort. 
•  Yet  he  was  naturally  courteous,  in  manner  and  word,  after 
the  purpose  of  his  heart,  never  speaking  a  harmful  or  shameful 
word  to  any  one.  Nay,  indeed,  although  he  was  so  gay  and 
wanton  a  youth,  yet  of  set  purpose  would  he  make  no  reply  to 
those  who  said  shameful  things  to  him.  And  hence  was  his 
fame  so  spread  abroad  throughout  the  whole  neighborhood  that 
His  redeeming  it  was  said  by  many  who  knew  him  that  he 
qualities  would  do  something  great.     By  these  steps  of 

godliness  he  progressed  to  such  grace  that  he  would  say  in  com- 
muning with  himself:  "Seeing  that  thou  art  bountiful  and 
courteous  toward  men,  from  whom  thou  receivest  naught  save 
a  passing  and  empty  favor,  it  is  just  that  thou  shouldst  be 
courteous  and  bountiful  toward  God,  who  is  Himself  most 
bountiful  in  rewarding  His  poor."  Wherefore  thenceforward 
did  he  look  with  goodwill  upon  the  poor,  bestowing  alms  upon 
them  abundantly.     And  although  he  was  a  merchant,  yet  was 


THE   LIFE   OF  ST.   FRANCIS  365 

he  a  most  lavish  dispenser  of  this  world's  riches.  One  day,  when 
he  was  standing  in  the  warehouse  in  which  he  sold  goods,  and 
was  intent  on  business,  a  certain  poor  man  came  to  him  asking 
alms  for  the  love  of  God.  Nevertheless,  he  was  held  back  by 
the  covetousness  of  wealth  and  the  cares  of  merchandise,  and 
A  lesson  in  denied  him  the  alms.  But  forthwith,  being  looked 
charity  upon  by  the  divine  grace,  he  rebuked  himself  of 

great  churlishness,  saying,  "Had  this  poor  man  asked  thee 
aughi  in  the  name  of  a  great  count  or  baron,  assuredly  thou 
wouldst  have  given  him  what  he  had  asked.  How  much  more 
then  oughtest  thou  to  have  done  it  for  the  King  of  Kings  and 
Lord  of  all?"  By  reason  whereof  he  thenceforth  determined 
in  his  heart  never  again  to  deny  anything  asked  in  the  name  of 
so  great  a  Lord.     .     .     . 

Now,  not  many  days  after  he  returned  to  Assisi,1  he  was 
chosen  one  evening  by  his  comrades  as  their  master  of  the  revels, 
to  spend  the  money  collected  from  the  company  after  his  own 
fancy.  So  he  caused  a  sumptuous  banquet  to  be  made  ready, 
as  he  had  often  done  before.  And  when  they  came  forth  from 
the  house,  and  his  comrades  together  went  before  him,  going 
through  the  city  singing  while  he  carried  a  wand  in  his  hand 
as  their  master,  he  was  walking  behind  them,  not  singing,  but 
meditating  very  earnestly.  And  lo!  suddenly  he  was  visited 
by  the  Lord,  and  his  heart  was  filled  with  such  sweetness  that 
he  could  neither  speak  nor  move;  nor  was  he  able  to  feel  and 
A  vision  in  ^ear  anvtnmg  except  that  sweetness  only,  which 
the  midst  of  so  separated  him  from  his  physical  senses  that 
— as  he  himself  afterward  said — had  he  then  been 
pricked  with  knives  all  over  at  once,  he  could  not  have  moved 

1  Aspiring  to  become  a  knight  and  to  win  distinction  on  the  field  of  battle, 
Francis  had  gone  to  Spoleto  with  the  intention  of  joining  an  expedition  about 
to  set  out  for  Apulia.  While  there  he  was  stricken  with  fever  and  compelled 
to  abandon  his  purpose.  Returning  to  Assisi,  he  redoubled  his  works  of 
charity  and  sought  to  keep  aloof  from  the  people  of  the  town.  His  old 
companions,  however,  flocked  around  him,  expecting  still  to  profit  by  his 
prodigality,  and  for  a  time,  being  himself  uncertain  as  to  the  course  he  would 
take,  he  acceded  to  their  desires. 


366  THE   FRIARS 

from  the  spot.     But  when  his  comrades  looked  back  and  saw 

him  thus  far  off  from  them,  they  returned  to  him  in  fear,  staring 

at  him  as  one  changed  into  another  man.    And  they  asked  him, 

"What  were  you  thinking  about,  that  you  did  not  come  along 

with  us?     Perchance  you  were  thinking  of  taking  a  wife."    To 

them  he  replied  with  a  loud  voice:  "Truly  have  you  spoken,  for 

I  thought  of  taking  to  myself  a  bride  nobler  and  richer  and  fairer 

than  ever  you  have  seen."    And  they  mocked  at  him.    But  this 

he  said  not  of  his  own  accord,  but  inspired  of  God;  for  the  bride 

herself  was  true  Religion,  whom  he  took  unto  him,  nobler, 

richer,  and  fairer  than  others  in  her  poverty. 

And  so  from  that  hour  he  began  to  grow  worthless  in  his  own 

eyes,  and  to  despise  those  things  he  had  formerly  loved,  although 

not  wholly  so  at  once,  for  he  was  not  yet  entirely  freed  from  the 

vanity  of  the  world.    Nevertheless,  withdrawing  himself  little  by 

little  from  the  tumult  of  the  world,  he  made  it  his  study  to 

treasure  up  Jesus  Christ  in  his  inner  man,  and,  hiding  from  the 

eyes  of  mockers  the  pearl  that  he  would  fain  buy  at  the  price  of 

selling  his  all,  he  went  oftentimes,  and  as  it  were  in  secret,  daily 

to  prayer,  being  urged  thereto  by  the  foretaste  of  that  sweetness 

that  had  visited  him  more  and  more  often,  and  compelled  him 

to  come  from  the  streets  and  other  public  places  to  prayer. 

Although  he  had  long  done  good  unto  the  poor,  yet  from  this 

time  forth  he  determined  still  more  firmly  in  his  heart  never 

His  increasing  again  to  deny  alms  to  any  poor  man  who  should 
zeal  in  charity    agk  it    for   the   love  of    God>  but   to   give  aims 

more  willingly  and  bountifully  than  had  been  his  practice. 
Whenever,  therefore,  any  poor  man  asked  of  him  an  alms 
out  of  doors,  he  would  supply  him  with  money  if  he  could; 
if  he  had  no  ready  money,  he  would  give  him  his  cap  or  girdle 
rather  than  send  the  poor  man  away  empty.  And  if  it  happened 
that  he  had  nothing  of  this  kind,  he  would  go  to  some  hidden 
place,  and  strip  off  his  shirt,  and  send  the  poor  man  thither  that 
he  might  take  it,  for  the  sake  of  God.    He  also  would  buy  vessels 


THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    FRANCIS  367 

for  the  adornment  of  churches,  and  would  send  them  in  all 
secrecy  to  poor  priests.     .     .     . 

So  changed,  then,  was  he  by  divine  grace  (although  still  in 
the  secular  garb)  that  he  desired  to  be  in  some  city  where  he 
might,  as  one  unknown,  strip  off  his  own  clothes  and  exchange 
them  for  those  of  some  beggar,  so  that  he  might  wear  his  instead 
and  make  trial  of  himself  by  asking  alms  for  the  love  of  God. 
Now  it  happened  that  at  that  time  he  had  gone  to  Rome  on  a 
pilgrimage.  And  entering  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  he  reflected 
on.  the  offerings  of  certain  people,  seeing  that  they  were  small, 
and  spoke  within  himself:  " Since  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles 
should  of  right  be  magnificently  honored,  why  do  these  folk 
make  such  sorry  offerings  in  the  church  wherein  his  body  rests?" 
And  so  in  great  fervency  he  put  his  hand  into  his  purse  and  drew 
it  forth  full  of  money,  and  flung  it  through  the  grating  of  the 
altar  with  such  a  crash  that  all  who  were  standing  by  marveled 
greatly  at  so  splendid  an  offering.  Then,  going  forth  in  front 
of  the  doors  of  the  church,  where  many  beggars  were  gathered 
to  ask  alms,  he  secretly  borrowed  the  rags  of  one  among  the 
He  begs  alms  neediest  and  donned  them,  laying  aside  his  own 
at  Rome  clothing.     Then,  standing  on  the  church   steps 

with  the  other  beggars,  he  asked  an  alms  in  French,  for  he  loved 
to  speak  the  French  tongue,  although  he  did  not  speak  it  cor- 
rectly. Thereafter,  putting  off  the  rags,  and  taking  again  his 
own  clothes,  he  returned  to  Assisi,  and  began  to  pray  the  Lord 
to  direct  his  way.  For  he  revealed  unto  none  his  secret,  nor 
took  counsel  of  any  in  this  matter,  save  only  of  God  (who  had 
begun  to  direct  his  way)  and  at  times  of  the  bishop  of  Assisi. 
For  at  that  time  no  true  Poverty  was  to  be  found  anywhere,  and 
she  it  was  that  he  desired  above  all  things  of  this  world,  being 
minded  in  her  to  live — yea,  and  to  die.     .     .     . 

Now  when  on  a  certain  day  he  was  praying  fervently  unto  the 
Lord,  answer  was  made  unto  him:  "Francis,  all  those  things  that 
thou  hast  loved  after  the  flesh,  and  hast  desired  to  have,  thou 


368  THE    FRIARS 

must  needs  despise  and  hate,  if  thou  wouldst  do  My  will,  and 
after  thou  shalt  have  begun  to  do  this  the  things  that  aforetime 
seemed  sweet  unto  thee  and  delightful  shall  be  unbearable  unto 
thee  and  bitter,  and  from  those  that  aforetime  thou  didst  loathe 
thou  shalt  drink  great  sweetness  and  delight  unmeasured." 
Rejoicing  at  these  words,  and  consoled  in  the  Lord,  when  he 
Francis  and  nad  ridden  nigh  unto  Assisi,  he  met  one  that  was 
the  leper  a  jeper      And  because  he  had  been  accustomed 

greatly  to  loathe  lepers,  he  did  violence  to  himself,  and  dis- 
mounted from  his  horse,  gave  him  money,  and  kissed  his  hand. 
And  receiving  from  him  the  kiss  of  peace,  he  remounted  his 
horse  and  continued  his  journey.  Thenceforth  he  began  more 
and  more  to  despise  himself,  until  by  the  grace  of  God  he  had 
attained  perfect  mastery  over  himself. 

A  few  days  later,  he  took  much  money  and  went  to  the  quarter 
of  the  lepers,  and,  gathering  all  together,  gave  to  each  an  alms, 
kissing  his  hand.  As  he  departed,  in  very  truth  that  which  had 
aforetime  been  bitter  to  him,  that  is,  the  sight  and  touch  of 
lepers,  was  changed  into  sweetness.  For,  as  he  confessed,  the 
sight  of  lepers  had  been  so  grievous  to  him  that  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  avoid  not  only  seeing  them,  but  even  going  near 
their  dwellings.  And  if  at  any  time  he  happened  to  pass  their 
abodes,  or  to  see  them,  although  he  was  moved  by  compassion 
to  give  them  an  alms  through  another  person,  yet  always  would 
he  turn  aside  his  face,  stopping  his  nostrils  with  his  hand.  But, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  he  became  so  intimate  a  friend  of  the 
lepers  that,  even  as  he  recorded  in  his  Will,1  he  lived  with  them 
and  did  humbly  serve  them. 

(b) 
A  very  spiritual  friar,  who  was  familiar  with  Blessed  Francis, 
erected  at  the  hermitage  where  he  lived  a  little  cell  in  a  solitary 
spot,  where  Blessed  Francis  could  retire  and  pray  when  he  came 

i  See  p.  376. 


THE  LIFE  OF  ST.   FRANCIS  369 

thither.    When  he  arrived  at  this  place  the  friar  took  him  to  the 

cell,  and  Blessed  Francis  said,  "This  cell  is  too  splendid" — it 

How  St.  Fran-    was,  indeed,  built  only  of  wood,  and  smoothed 

dweU°inan0t     with  a  hatchet— "if  you  wish  me  to  remain  here, 

adorned  cell       make  it  within  and  without  of  branches  of  trees 

and  clay."    For  the  poorer  the  house  or  cell,  the  more  was  he 

pleased  to  live  therein.     When  the  friar  had  done  this,  Blessed 

Francis  remained  there  several  days.      One  day  he  was  out  of  the 

cell  when  a  friar  came  to  see  him,  who,  coming  thereafter  to  the 

place  where  Blessed  Francis  wasrwas  asked,  "Whence  came 

you,  Brother?"    He  answered,  "I  come  from  your  cell."    Then 

said  Blessed  Francis:  "Since  you  have  called  it  mine,  let  another 

dwell  there  and  not  I."    And,  in  truth,  we  who  were  with  him 

often  heard  him  say:  "The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the 

-    .  „         air  have  their  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath 

Or  in  a  cell  ' 

called  his  not  where  to  lay  His  head."    And  again  he  would 

say:  "When  the  Lord  remained  in  the  desert,  and 
fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  He  did  not  make  for  Himself 
a  cell  or  a  house,  but  found  shelter  amongst  the  rocks  of  the 
mountain."  For  this  reason,  and  to  follow  His  example,  he 
would  not  have  it  said  that  a  cell  or  house  was  his,  nor  would  he 
allow  such  to  be  constructed.  .  .  .  When  he  was  nigh  unto 
death  he  caused  it  to  be  written  in  his  Testament 1  that  all  the 
cells  and  houses  of  the  friars  should  be  of  wood  and  clay,  the 
better  to  safeguard  poverty  and  humility. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Order,  when  the  friars  were  at  Rivo- 
Torto,2  near  Assisi,  there  was  among  them  one  friar  who  would 
A  lazy  not  pray,  work,  nor  ask  for  alms,  but  only  eat. 

friar  Considering  this,  Blessed  Francis  knew  by  the  Holy 

Spirit  that  he  was  a  carnal  man,  and  said  to  him,  "  Brother  Fly,  go 

1  Brief  portions  of  this  testament,  or  will,  are  given  on  p.  376. 

2  This  was  in  the  latter  part  of  1210  and  the  early  part  of  1211.  Rivo- 
Torto  was  an,  abandoned  cottage  in  the  plain  of  Assisi,  an  hour's  walk  from 
the  town  and  near  the  highway  between  Perugia  and  Rome.    The  building 

Med.  Hist.— 24 


370  THE   FRIARS 

your  way,  since  you  consume  the  labor  of  the  brethren,  and  are 
slothful  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  like  the  idle  and  barren  drone  who 
earns  nothing  and  does  not  work,  but  consumes  the  labor  and  earn- 
ings of  the  working  bee."  He,  therefore,  went  his  way,  and  as 
he  was  a  carnally-minded  man  he  neither  sought  for  mercy  nor 
obtained  it. 


Having  at  a  time  suffered  greatly  from  one  of  his  serious 
attacks  of  illness,  when  he  felt  a  little  better  he  began  to  think 
that  during  his  sickness  he  had  exceeded  his  usual  allowance  of 
food,  whereas  he  had  really  eaten  very  little.  Though  not  quite 
recovered  from  the  ague,  he  caused  the  people  of  Assisi  to  be 
called  together  in  the  public  square  to  listen  to  a  sermon.  When 
he  had  finished  preaching,  he  told  the  people  to  remain  where 
they  were  until  he  came  back  to  them,  and  entered  the  cathedral 
of  St.  Rufinus  with  many  friars  and  Brother  Peter  of  Cat  ana, 
who  had  been  a  canon  of  that  church,  and  was  now  the  first 
Minister-General1  appointed  by  Blessed  Francis.  To  Brother 
Public  humilia-  -^e^er  Francis  spoke,  enjoining  him  under  obedi- 
tion  inflicted  ence  not  to  contradict  what  he  was  about  to  say. 
Brother  Peter  replied:  " Brother,  neither  is  it 
possible,  as  between  you.  and  me,  nor  do  I  wish  to  do  anything 
save  what  is  pleasing  to  you."  Then,  taking  off  his  tunic, 
Blessed  Francis  bade  him  place  a  rope  around  his  neck  and  drag 
him  thus  before  the  people  to  the  place  where  he  had  preached. 
At  the  same  time  he  ordered  another  friar  to  carry  a  bowlful 
of  ashes  to  the  place,  and  when  he  got  there  to  throw  the  ashes 


had  once  served  as  a  leper  hospital.  Francis  and  his  companions  selected 
it  as  a  temporary  place  of  abode,  probably  because  of  its  proximity  to  the 
carceri,  or  natural  grottoes,  of  Mount  Subasio  to  which  the  friars  resorted 
for  solitude,  and  because  it  was  at  the  same  time  sufficiently  near  the  ITm- 
brian  towns  to  permit  of  frequent  trips  thither  for  preaching  and  charity. 

1  Practically,  St.  Francis's  successor  in  the  headship  of  the  order.  With 
the  idea  of  realizing  entire  humility  in  his  own  life,  St.  Francis  had  resigned 
his  position  of  authority  into  the  hands  of  Brother  Peter  and  had  pledged 
the  implicit  obedience  of  himself  and  the  others  to  the  new  prelate. 


THE   LIFE   OF   ST.   FRANCIS  371 

into  his  face.     But  this  order  was  not  obeyed  by  the  friar  out 
of  the  pity  and  compassion  he  felt  for  him. 

Brother  Peter,  taking  the  rope,  did  as  he  had  been  told;  but 
he  and  all  the  other  friars  shed  tears  of  compassion  and  bitter- 
ness. When  he  [Francis]  stood  thus  bared  before  the  people  in 
the  place  where  he  had  preached,  he  cried:  "You,  and  all  those 
who  by  my  example  have  been  induced  to  abandon  the  world 
and  enter  Religion  to  lead  the  lives  of  friars,  I  confess  before 
God  and  you  that  in  my  illness  I  have  eaten  meat  and  broths 
made  of  meat."  And  all  the  people  could  not  refrain  from  weep- 
ing, especially  as  at  that  time  it  was  very  cold  and  he  had  scarcely 
recovered  from  the  fever.  Beating  their  breasts  where  they 
stood,  they  exclaimed,  "  If  this  saint,  for  just  and  manifest  neces- 
sity, with  shame  of  body  thus  accuses  himself,  whose  life  we  know 
to  be  holy,  and  who  has  imposed  on  himself  such  great  ab- 
stinence and  austerity  since  his  first  conversion  to  Christ  (whom 
we  here,  as  it  were,  see  in  the  flesh),  what  will  become  of  us  sin- 
ners who  all  our  lifetime  seek  to  follow  our  carnal  appetites?" 

Blessed  Francis,  wholly  wrapped  up  in  the  love  of  God,  dis- 
cerned perfectly  the  goodness  of  God  not  only  in  his  own  soul, 
now  adorned  with  the  perfection  of  virtue,  but  in  every  creature. 
On  account  of  which  he  had  a  singular  and  intimate  love  of 
St.  Francis  creatures,  especially  of  those  in  which  was  figured 
and  the  larks  anything  pertaining  to  God  or  the  Order.  Where- 
fore above  all  other  birds  he  loved  a  certain  little  bird  which  is 
called  the  lark,  or  by  the  people,  the  cowled  lark.  And  he  used  to 
say  of  it:  "Sister  Lark  hath  a  cowl  like  a  Religious;  and  she  is  a 
humble  bird,  because  she  goes  willingly  by  the  road  to  find  there 
any  food.  And  if  she  comes  upon  it  in  foulness,  she  draws  it  out 
and  eats  it.  But,  flying,  she  praises  God  very  sweetly,  like  a  good 
Religious,  despising  earthly  things,  whose  conversation  is  always 
in  the  heavens,  and  whose  intent  is  always  to  the  praise  of  God. 
Her  clothes  (that  is,  her  feathers),  are  like  to  the  earth  and  she 


372  THE   FRIARS 

gives  an  example  to  Religious  that  they  should  not  have  delicate 
and  colored  garments,  but  common  in  price  and  color,  as  earth 
is  commoner  than  the  other  elements."  And  because  he  per- 
ceived this  in  them,  he  looked  on  them  most  willingly.  There- 
fore it  pleased  the  Lord,  that  these  most  holy  little  birds  should 
show  some  sign  of  affection  towards  him  in  the  hour  of  his 
death.  For  late  in  the  Sabbath  day  after  vespers,  before  the 
night  in  which  he  passed  away  to  the  Lord,  a  great  multitude 
of  that  kind. of  birds  called  larks  came  on  the  roof  of  the  house 
where  he  was  lying,  and,  flying  about,  made  a  wheel  like  a  circle 
around  the  roof,  and,  sweetly  singing,  seemed  likewise  to  praise 
the  Lord. 

We  who  were  with  Blessed  Francis  and  write  these  things, 
testify  that  many  times  we  heard  him  say:  "If  I  could  speak 
with  the  Emperor,1  I  would  supplicate  and  persuade  him  that, 
for  the  love  of  God  and  me,  he  would  make  a  special  law  that  no 
man  should  snare  or  kill  our  sisters,  the  larks,  nor  do  them  any 
harm.  Also,  that  all  chief  magistrates  of  cities  and  lords  of 
castles  and  villages  should,  every  year,  on  the  day  of  the  Lord's 
His  desire  that  Nativity,  compel  men  to  scatter  wheat  and  other 
mals3  belied  on  Sram  on  the  roads  outside  cities  and  castles,  that 
Christmas  day  our  Sister  Larks  and  all  other  birds  might  have  to 
eat  on  that  most  solemn  day;  and  that,  out  of  reverence  for  the 
Son  of  God,  who  on  that  night  was  laid  by  the  most  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary  in  a  manger  between  an  ox  and  an  ass,  all  who  have 
oxen  and  asses  should  be  obliged  on  that  night  to  provide  them 
with  abundant  and  good  fodder;  and  also  that  on  that  day  the 
poor  should  be  most  bountifully  fed  by  the  rich." 

For  Blessed  Francis  held  in  higher  reverence  than  any  other 
the  Feast  of  the  Lord's  Nativity,  saying,  "After  the  Lord  was 
born,  our  salvation  became  a  necessity."  Therefore  he  desired 
that  on  this  day  all  Christians  should  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and, 

i  That  is,  the  sovereign  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 


THE  RULE   OF  ST.   FRANCIS  373 

for  the  love  of  Him  who  gave  Himself  for  us,  should  generously 
provide  not  only  for  the  poor,  but  also  for  the  beasts  and  birds. 

Next  to  fire  he  most  loved  water,  which  is  the  symbol  of  holy 
penance  and  tribulation,  whereby  the  stains  are  washed  from 
the  soul,  and  by  which  the  first  cleansing  of  the  soul  takes  place 
in  holy  baptism.  Hence,  when  he  washed  his  hands,  he  would 
select  a  place  where  he  would  not  tread  the  water  underfoot. 
His  regard  for  When  he  walked  over  stones  he  would  tread  on 
and  aU  created  them  with  fear  and  reverence,  for  the  love  of 
things  Him  who  is  called  the  Rock,  and  when  reciting 

the  words  of  the  Psalm,  Thou  hast  exalted  me  on  a  rock,  would 
add  with  great  reverence  and  devotion,  "beneath  the  foot  of 
the  rock  hast  thou  exalted  me." 

In  the  same  way  he  would  tell  the  friars  who  cut  and  pre- 
pared the  wood  not  to  cut  down  the  whole  tree,  but  only  such 
branches  as  would  leave  the  tree  standing,  for  love  of  Him  who 
died  for  us  on  the  wood  of  the  Cross.  So,  also,  he  would  tell  the 
friar  who  was  the  gardener  not  to  cultivate  all  the  ground  for 
vegetables  and  herbs  for  food,  but  to  set  aside  some  part  to 
produce  green  plants  which  should  in  their  time  bear  flowers 
for  the  friars,  for  love  of  Him  who  was  called  "The  Flower  of 
the  Field,"  and  "The  Lily  of  the  Valley."  Indeed  he  would  say 
the  Brother  Gardener  should  always  make  a  beautiful  little 
garden  in  some  part  of  the  land,  and  plant  it  with  sweet-scented 
herbs  bearing  lovely  flowers,  which  in  the  time  of  their  blossom- 
ing invited  men  to  praise  Him  who  made  all  herbs  and  flowers. 
For  every  creature  cries  aloud:  "God  has  made  me  for  thee,  O 
man!" 

64.  The  Rule  of  St.  Francis 

There  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  St.  Francis  set  out  upon  his 
mission  with  no  idea  whatever  of  founding  a  new  religious  order.  His 
fundamental  purpose  was  to  revive  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  purer 
Christianity  of  the  apostolic  age,  and  so  far  as  this  involved  the  announce- 


374  THE   FRIARS 

ment  of  any  definite  principles  or  rules  he  was  quite  content  to  draw 
them  solely  from  the  Scriptures.  We  have  record,  for  example,  of  how 
when  (in  1209)  St.  Francis  had  yet  but  two  followers,  he  led  them  to  the 
steps  of  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas  at  Assisi  and  there  read  to  them 
three  times  the  words  of  Jesus  sending  forth  his  disciples,1  adding, 
"This,  brethren,  is  our  life  and  our  rule,  and  that  of  all  who  may  join  us. 
Go,  then,  and  do  as  you  have  heard."  As  his  field  of  labor  expanded, 
however,  and  the  number  of  the  friars  increased,  St.  Francis  decided  to 
write  out  a  definite  Rule  for  the  brotherhood  and  go  to  Rome  to  procure 
its  approval  by  the  Pope.  The  Rule  as  thus  formulated,  in  1210,  has  not 
come  down  to  us.  We  know  only  that  it  was  extremely  simple  and  that 
it  was  composed  almost  wholly  of  passages  from  the  Bible  (doubtless 
those  read  to  the  companions  at  Assisi),  with  a  few  precepts  about  the 
occupations  and  manner  of  living  of  the  brethren.  This  first  Rule  indeed 
proved  too  simple  and  brief  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  growing  order. 
A  general  injunction,  such  as  "be  poor,"  was  harder  to  apply  and  to 
live  up  to  than  a  more  specific  set  of  instructions  explaining  just  what 
was  to  be  considered  poverty  and  what  was  not.  The  brethren,  more- 
over, were  soon  preaching  and  laboring  in  all  the  countries  of  western 
Europe  and  questions  were  continually  coming  up  regarding  their  rela- 
tions with  the  temporal  powers  in  those  countries,  with  the  local  clergy, 
with  the  papal  government,  and  also  among  themselves. 

Reluctantly,  and  with  a  heart-felt  warning  against  the  insidious 
influences  of  ambition  and  organization,  the  founder  finally  brought  him- 
self to  the  task  of  drawing  up  a  constitution  for  the  order  which  had  sur- 
prised him,  and  in  a  certain  sense  grieved  him,  by  the  very  elaborateness 
of  its  development.  During  the  winter  of  1220-21 ,  when  physical  infirmi- 
ties were  foreshadowing  the  end,  Francis  worked  out  the  document  gen- 
erally known  as  the  Rule  of  1221,  which  became  the  basis  for  the  Rule  of 
1223,  quoted  in  part  below.    Before  the  Rule  took  its  final  form,  the  in- 

iThe  passage  (Luke  ix.  1-6)  is  as  follows:  "Jesus,  having  called  to  Him 
the  Twelve,  gave  them  power  and  authority  over  all  devils  and  to  cure 
diseases.  And  He  sent  them  to  preach  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  to  heal  the 
sick.  And  He  said  unto  them,  Take  nothing  for  your  journey,  neither  staves, 
nor  scrip,  neither  bread,  neither  money;  neither  have  two  coats  apiece.  And 
whatsoever  house  ye  enter  into,  there  abide,  and  thence  depart.  And  who- 
soever will  not  receive  you,  when  ye  go  out  of  that  city  shake  off  the  very 
dust  from  your  feet  for  a  testimony  against  them.  And  they  departed  and 
went  through  the  towns,  preaching  the  gospel  and  healing  everywhere." 


THE  RULE   OF  ST.  FRANCIS  375 

fluence  of  the  Church  was  brought  to  bear  through  the  papacy,  with  the 
result  that  most  of  the  freshness  and  vigor  that  St.  Francis  put  into  the 
earlier  effort  was  crushed  out  in  the  interest  of  ecclesiastical  regularity. 
Only  a  small  portion  of  the  document  can  be  reproduced  here,  but 
enough,  perhaps,  to  show  something  as  to  what  the  manner  of  life  of  the 
Franciscan  friar  was  expected  to  be.  The  extract  may  profitably  be 
compared  with  the  Benedictine  Rule  governing  the  monks  [see  p.  83]. 

Source — Bullarium  Romanum  ["  Collection  of  Papal  Bulls  "],  editio  Tauri- 
nensis,  Vol.  III.,  p.  394.  Adapted  from  translation  in  Ernest  F. 
Henderson,  Select  Historical  Documents  of  the  Middle  Ages  (London, 
1896),  pp.  344-349  passim. 

1.  This  is  the  rule  and  way  of  living  of  the  Minorite  brothers, 
namely,  to  observe  the  holy  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
living  in  obedience,  without  personal  possessions,  and  in  chastity. 
Brother  Francis  promises  obedience  and  reverence  to  our  lord 
Pope  Honorius,1  and  to  his  successors  who  canonically  enter 
upon  their  office,  and  to  the  Roman  Church.  And  the  other 
brothers  shall  be  bound  to  obey  Brother  Francis  and  his  suc- 
cessors. 

4.  I  firmly  command  all  the  brothers  by  no  means  to  receive 
coin  or  money,  of  themselves  or  through  an  intervening  person. 
Money  in  no  But  for  the  needs  of  the  sick  and  for  clothing  the 
ceived0by>the  otner  brotners>  tne  ministers  alone  and  the 
brothers  guardians  shall  provide  through  spiritual  friends, 
as  it  may  seem  to  them  that  necessity  demands,  according  to 
time,  place  and  the  coldness  of  the  temperature.  This  one  thing 
being  always  borne  in  mind,  that,  as  has  been  said,  they  re- 
ceive neither  coin  nor  money. 

5.  Those  brothers  to  whom  God  has  given  the  ability  to  labor 
shall  labor  faithfully  and  devoutly,  in  such  manner  that  idleness, 
the  enemy  of  the  soul,  being  averted,  they  may  not  extinguish 
The  obliga-  t.he  spirit  of  holy  prayer  and  devotion,  to  which 
tion  to  labor  other  temporal  things  should  be  subservient.  As 
a  reward,  moreover,  for  their  labor,  they  may  receive  for  them- 

i  Honorius  III.,  1210-1227. 


376  THE  FRIARS 

selves  and  their  brothers  the  necessities  of  life,  but  not  coin  or 
money;  and  this  humbly,  as  becomes  the  servants  of  God  and 
the  followers  of  most  holy  poverty. 

6.  The  brothers  shall  appropriate  nothing  to  themselves, 
neither  a  house,  nor  a  place,  nor  anything;  but  as  pilgrims  and 
strangers  in  this  world,  in  poverty  and  humility  serving  God, 
they  shall  confidently  go  seeking  for  alms.  Nor  need  they  be 
ashamed,  for  the  Lord  made  Himself  poor  for  us  in  this  world. 

65.   The  Will  of  St.  Francis 

The  will  which  St.  Francis  prepared  just  before  his  death  (1226) 
contains  an  admirable  statement  of  the  principles  for  which  he  labored, 
as  well  as  a  notable  warning  to  his  successors  not  to  allow  the  order  to 
fall  away  from  its  original  high  ideals.  Among  the  later  Franciscans 
the  Will  acquired  a  moral  authority  superior  even  to  that  of  the  Rule. 

Source — Text  in  Amoni,  Legenda  Trium  Sociorum  ["Legend  of  the  Three 
Companions"],  Appendix,  p.  110.  Translation  adapted  from  Paul 
Sabatier,  Life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  (New  York,  1894),  pp.  337- 
339. 

God  gave  it  to  me,  Brother  Francis,  to  begin  to  do  penance  in 
the  following  manner:  when  I  was  yet  in  my  sins  it  seemed  to  me 
too  painful  to  look  upon  the  lepers,  but  the  Lord  Himself  led 
me  among  them,  and  I  had  compassion  upon  them.  When  I 
left  them,  that  which  had  seemed  to  me  bitter  had  become  sweet 
and  easy.  A  little  while  after,  I  left  the  world,1  and  God  gave 
me  such  faith  that  I  would  kneel  down  with  simplicity  in  any 
of  his  churches,  and  I  would  say,  "We  adore  thee,  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  here  and  in  all  thy  churches  which  are  in  the  world,  and 
we  bless  thee  that  by  Thy  holy  cross  Thou  hast  ransomed  the 
world." 

Afterward  the  Lord  gave  me,  and  still  gives  me,  so  great  a 
faith  in  priests  who  live  according  to  the  form  of  the  holy  Roman 
Church,  because  of  their  sacerdotal  character,  that  even  if  they 

1  That  is,  abandoned  the  worldly  manner  of  living. 


THE  WILL  OF  ST.   FRANCIS  377 

persecuted  me  I  would  have  recourse  to  them,  and  even  though 
I  had  all  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  if  I  should  find  poor  secular 
St  Francis  not  Pr^ests>  *  would  not  preach  in  their  parishes 
hostile  to  the  against  their  will.1  I  desire  to  respect  them  like 
all  the  others,  to  love  them  and  honor  them  as 
my  lords.  I  will  not  consider  their  sins,  for  in  them  I  see  the 
Son  of  God,  and  they  are  my  lords.  I  do  this  because  here  below 
I  see  nothing,  I  perceive  nothing  physically  of  the  most  high 
Son  of  God,  except  His  most  holy  body  and  blood,  which  the 
priests  receive  and  alone  distribute  to  others.2 

I  desire  above  all  things  to  honor  and  venerate  all  these  most 
holy  mysteries  and  to  keep  them  precious.  Wherever  I  find  the 
sacred  name  of  Jesus,  or  his  words,  in  unsuitable  places,  I  desire 
to  take  them  away  and  put  them  in  some  decent  place;  and  I 
pray  that  others  may  do  the  same.  We  ought  to  honor  and 
revere  all  the  theologians  and  those  who  preach  the  most  holy 
word  of  God,  as  dispensing  to  us  spirit  and  life. 

When  the  Lord  gave  me  the  care  of  some  brothers,  no  one 
showed  me  what  I  ought  to  do,  but  the  Most  High  himself  re- 
vealed to  me  that  I  ought  to  live  according  to  the  model  of  the 
holy  gospel.  I  caused  a  short  and  simple  formula  to  be  written 
and  the  lord  Pope  confirmed  it  for  me.3 

Those  who  volunteered  to  follow  this  kind  of  life  distributed 
all  they  had  to  the  poor.  They  contented  themselves  with 
Poverty  and  one  tunic,  patched  within  and  without,  with 
labor  enjoined  ^e  cord  and  breeches,  and  we  desired  to  have 
nothing  more.     .     .     .     We  loved   to  live  in  poor  and  aban- 

1  Despite  the  willingness  of  St.  Francis  here  expressed  to  get  on  peaceably 
with  the  secular  clergy,  i.e.,  the  bishops  and  priests,  the  history  of  the 
mendicant  orders  is  filled  with  the  records  of  strife  between  the  seculars  and 
friars.  This  was  inevitable,  since  such  friars  as  had  taken  priestly  orders 
were  accustomed  to  hear  confessions,  preside  at  masses,  preach  in  parish 
churchyards,  bury  the  dead,  and  collect  alms — all  the  proper  functions  of 
the  parish  priests  but  permitted  to  the  friars  by  special  papal  dispensations. 
The  priests  very  naturally  regarded  the  friars  as  usurpers. 

2  That  is,  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

3  The  Rule  of  1210,  approved  by  Innocent  III.,  is  here  meant  [see  p.  374]. 


378  THE   FRIARS 

doned  churches,  and  we  were  ignorant  and  were  submissive  to  all. 
I  worked  with  my  hands  and  would  still  do  so,  and  I  firmly 
desire  also  that  all  the  other  brothers  work,  for  this  makes  for 
goodness.  Let  those  who  know  no  trade  learn  one,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  wages  for  their  toil,  but  for  their  good 
example  and  to  escape  idleness.  And  when  we  are  not  given  the 
price  of  our  work,  let  us  resort  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  begging 
our  bread  from  door  to  door.  The  Lord  revealed  to  me  the 
salutation  which  we  ought  to  give:  "God  give  you  peace!" 

Let  the  brothers  take  great  care  not  to  accept  churches, 
dwellings,  or  any  buildings  erected  for  them,  except  as  all  is 
in  accordance  with  the  holy  poverty  which  we  have  vowed  in 
the  Rule;  and  let  them  not  live  in  them  except  as  strangers  and 
pilgrims.  I  absolutely  forbid  all  the  brothers,  in  whatsoever 
place  they  may  be  found,  to  ask  any  bull  from  the  court  of 
No  further  Rome,  whether  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  in- 

to^be^ught  terest  of  church  or  convent,  or  under  pretext  of 
from  the  Pope  preaching,  or  even  for  the  protection  of  their 
bodies.  If  they  are  not  received  anywhere,  let  them  go  of  them- 
selves elsewhere,  thus  doing  penance  with  the  benediction  of 
God.     .     .     . 

And  let  the  brothers  not  say,  "This  is  a  new  Rule";  for  this  is 
only  a  reminder,  a  warning,  an  exhortation.  It  is  my  last  will 
and  testament,  that  I,  little  Brother  Francis,  make  for  you,  my 
blessed  brothers,  in  order  that  we  may  observe  in  a  more  Catholic 
way  the  Rule  which  we  promised  the  Lord  to  keep. 

Let  the  ministers-general,  all  the  other  ministers,  and  the 
custodians  be  held  by  obedience  to  add  nothing  to  and  take 
No  additions  nothing  away  from  these  words.  Let  them  always 
the  RuTeor  t0  keep  ^s  writing  near  them  beside  the  Rule;  and 
the  Will  in  all  the  assemblies  which  shall  be  held,  when 

the  Rule  is  read,  let  these  words  be  read  also. 

I  absolutely  forbid  all  the  brothers,  clerics  and  laymen,  to 
introduce  comments  in  the  Rule,  or  in  this  Will,  under  pretext 


THE  WILL  OF  ST.   FRANCIS  379 

of  explaining  it.  But  since  the  Lord  has  given  me  to  speak  and 
to  write  the  Rule  and  these  words  in  a  clear  and  simple  manner, 
so  do  you  understand  them  in  the  same  way  without  commentary, 
and  put  them  in  practice  until  the  end. 

And  whoever  shall  have  observed  these  things,  may  he  be 
crowned  in  heaven  with  the  blessings  of  the  heavenly  Father, 
and  on  earth  with  those  of  his  well-beloved  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  Consoler,  with  the  assistance  of  all  the  heavenly 
virtues  and  all  the  saints.' 

And  I,  little  Brother  Francis,  your  servant,  confirm  to  you, 
so  far  as  I  am  able,  this  most  holy  benediction.    Amen. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  PAPACY  AND  THE  TEMPORAL  POWERS  IN  THE  LATER 

MIDDLE  AGES 

66.    The  Interdict  Laid  on  France  by  Innocent  III.  (1200) 

Two  of  the  most  effective  weapons  at  the  service  of  the  mediaeval 
Church  were  excommunication  and  the  interdict.  By  the  ban  of  ex- 
communication the  proper  ecclesiastical  authorities  could  exclude  a 
heretic  or  otherwise  objectionable  person  from  all  religious  privileges, 
thereby  cutting  him  off  from  association  with  the  faithful  and  consign- 
ing him  irrevocably  (unless  he  repented)  to  Satan.  The  interdict  differed 
from  excommunication  in  being  less  sweeping  in  its  condemnatory  char- 
acter, and  also  in  being  applied  to  towns,  provinces,  or  countries  rather 
than  to  individuals.  As  a  rule  the  interdict  undertook  to  deprive  the 
inhabitants  of  a  specified  region  of  the  use  of  certain  of  the  sacraments, 
of  participation  in  the  usual  religious  services,  and  of  the  right  of  Chris- 
tian burial.  It  did  not  expel  men  from  church  membership,  as  did 
excommunication,  but  it  suspended  most  of  the  privileges  and  rights 
flowing  from  such  membership.  The  interdict  was  first  employed  by  the 
clergy  of  north  France  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  In  the 
twelfth  it  was  adopted  by  the  papacy  on  account  of  its  obvious  value 
as  a  means  of  disciplining  the  monarchs  of  western  Europe.  Because 
of  its  effectiveness  in  stirring  up  popular  indignation  against  sovereigns 
who  incurred  the  papal  displeasure,  by  the  time  of  Innocent  III.  (1198-' 
1216)  it  had  come  to  be  employed  for  political  as  well  as  for  purely 
religious  purposes,  though  generally  the  two  considerations  were  closely 
intertwined.  A  famous  and  typical  instance  of  its  use  was  that  of  the 
year  1200,  described  below. 

In  August,  1193,  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  married  Ingeborg, 
second  sister  of  King  Knut  VI.  of  Denmark.    At  the  time  Philip  was 

380 


INTERDICT   LAID   ON   FRANCE   BY   INNOCENT   III.  381 

contemplating  an  invasion  of  England  and  hoped  through  the  marriage 
to  assure  himself  of  Danish  aid.  Circumstances  soon  changed  his  plans, 
however,  and  almost  immediately  he  began  to  treat  his  new  wife  coldly, 
with  the  obvious  purpose  of  forcing  her  to  return  to  her  brother's  court. 
Failing  in  this,  he  convened  his  nobles  and  bishops  at  Compiegne  and 
got  from  them  a  decree  of  divorce,  on  the  flimsy  pretext  that  the  mar- 
riage with  Ingeborg  had  been  illegal  on  account  of  the  latter's  distant 
relationship  to  Elizabeth  of  Hainault,  Philip's  first  wife.  Ingeborg 
and  her  brother  appealed  to  Rome,  and  Pope  Celestine  III.  dispatched 
letter  after  letter  and  legate  after  legate  to  the  French  court,  but  with- 
out result.  Indeed,  after  three  years,  Philip,  to  clinch  the  matter,  as  he 
thought,  married  Agnes  of  Meran,  daughter  of  a  Bavarian  nobleman, 
and  shut  up  Ingeborg  in  a  convent  at  Soissons.  In  1198,  while  the 
affair  stood  thus,  Celestine  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Innocent  III., 
under  whom  the  papal  power  was  destined  to  attain  a  height  hitherto 
unknown.  Innocent  flatly  refused  to  sanction  the  divorce  or  to  recog- 
nize the  second  marriage,  although  he  was  not  pope,  of  course,  until 
some  years  after  both  had  occurred.  On  the  ground  that  the  whole 
subject  of  marriage  lay  properly  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church, 
Innocent  demanded  that  Philip  cast  off  the  beautiful  Agnes  and 
restore  Ingeborg  to  her  rightful  place.  This  Philip  promptly  refused 
to  do. 

The  threat  of  an  interdict  failing  to  move  him,  the  Pope  proceeded  to 
put  his  threat  into  execution.  In  January,  1200,  the  interdict  was  pro- 
nounced and,  though  the  king's  power  over  the  French  clergy  was  so 
strong  that  many  refused  to  heed  the  voice  from  Rome,  gradually 
the  discontent  and  indignation  of  the  people  grew  until  after  nine 
months  it  became  apparent  that  the  king  must  yield.  He  did  so  as 
gracefully  as  he  could,  promising  to  take  back  Ingeborg  and  submit 
the  question  of  a  divorce  to  a  council  presided  over  by  the  papal  legate. 
This  council,  convened  in  1201  at  Soissons,  decided  against  the  king  and 
in  favor  of  Ingeborg;  but  Philip  had  no  intention  to  submit  in  good 
faith  and,  until  the  death  of  Agnes  in  1204,  he  maintained  his  policy  of 
procrastination  and  double-dealing.  Even  in  the  later  years  of  the  reign 
the  unfortunate  Ingeborg  had  frequent  cause  to  complain  of  harshness 
and  neglect  at  the  hand  of  her  royal  husband. 

The  following  are  the  principal  portions  of  Innocent's  interdict. 


382  THE  PAPACY  AND  THE  TEMPORAL  POWERS 

Source — Martene,  Edmond,  and  Durand,  Ursin,  Thesaurus  novus  Anecdo- 
torum  ["New  Collection  of  Unpublished  Documents'*],  Paris,  1717, 
Vol.  IV.,  p.  147.  Adapted  from  translation  by  Arthur  C.  Howland 
in  Univ.  of  Pa.  Translations  and  Reprints,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  4,  pp.  29-30. 

Let  all  the  churches  be  closed;  let  no  one  be  admitted  to  them, 

except  to  baptize  infants;  let  them  not  be  otherwise  opened, 

except  for  the  purpose  of  lighting  the  lamps,  or  when  the  priest 

shall  come  for  the  Eucharist  and  holy  water  for  the  use  of  the 

sick.    We  permit  Mass  to  be  celebrated  once  a  week,  on  Friday, 

early  in  the  morning,  to  consecrate  the  Host  !  for  the  use  of  the 

sick,  but  only  one  clerk  is  to  be  admitted  to  assist  the  priest. 

Partial  sus-        -^  ^e  clergy  preach  on  Sunday  in  the  vestibules 

pension  of  0f  the  churches,  and  in  place  of  the  Mass  let  them 

the  services 

and  offices  of      deliver  the  word  of  God.     Let  them  recite  the 

the  Church  canonical  hours  2  outside  the  churches,  where  the 
people  do  not  hear  them;  if  they  recite  an  epistle  or  a  gospel,  let 
them  beware  lest  the  laity  hear  them;  and  let  them  not  permit 
the  dead  to  be  interred,  nor  their  bodies  to  be  placed  unburied 
in  the  cemeteries. .  Let  them,  moreover,  say  to  the  laity  that 
they  sin  and  transgress  grievously  by  burying  bodies  in  the 
earth,  even  in  unconsecrated  ground,  for  in  so  doing  they  assume 
to  themselves  an  office  pertaining  to  others. 

Let  them  forbid  their  parishioners  to  enter  churches  that  may 
be  open  in  the  king's  territory,  and  let  them  not  bless  the  wallets 
of  pilgrims,  except  outside  the  churches.  Let  them  not  cele- 
How  Easter  brate  the  offices  in  Passion  week,  but  refrain 
should  be  ob-  even  until  Easter  day,  and  then  let  them  cele- 
brate in  private,  no  one  being  admitted  except 
the  assisting  priest,  as  above  directed;  let  no  one  communicate, 
even  at  Easter,  unless  he  be  sick  and  in  danger  of  death.  During 
the  same  week,  or  on  Palm  Sunday,  let  them  announce  to  their 

i  The  consecrated  wafer,  believed  to  be  the  body  of  Christ,  which  in  the 
Mass  is  offered  as  a  sacrifice;  also  the  bread  before  consecration. 

2  Certain  periods  of  the  day,  set  apart  by  the  laws  of  the  Church,  for  the 
duties  of  prayer  and  devotion;  also  certain  portions  of  the  Breviary  to  be  used 
at  stated  hours.  The  seven  canonical  hours  are  matins  and  lauds,  the  first, 
third,  sixth,  and  ninth  hours,  vespers,  and  compline. 


THE   BULL   U  UN  AM   SANCTAM  "    OF   BONIFACE  VIII.        383 

parishioners  that  they  may  assemble  on  Easter  morning  before 
the  church  and  there  have  permission  to  eat  flesh  and  conse- 
crated bread.  .  .  .  Let  the  priest  confess  all  who  desire 
it  in  the  portico  of  the  church;  if  the  church  have  no  portico, 
Arrangements  we  direct  that  in  bad  or  rainy  weather,  and  not 
for  confession  otherwise,  the  nearest  door  of  the  church  may 
be  opened  and  confessions  heard  on  its  threshold  (all  being  ex- 
cluded except  the  one  who  is  to  confess),  so  that  the  priest  and 
the  penitent  can  be  heard  by  those  who  are  outside  the  church. 
If,  however,  the  weather  be  fair,  let  the  confession  be  heard  in 
front  of  the  closed  doors.  Let  no  vessels  of  holy  water  be  placed 
outside  the  church,  nor  shall  the  priests  carry  them  any- 
where; for  all  the  sacraments  of  the  Church  beyond  these  two 
which  are  reserved  *  are  absolutely  prohibited.  Extreme  unction, 
which  is  a  holy  sacrament,  may  not  be  given.2 

67.   The  Bull  "  Unam  Sanctam"  of  Boniface  VIII.  (1302) 

In  the  history  of  the  mediaeval  Church  at  least  three  great  periods  of 
conflict  between  the  papacy  and  the  temporal  powers  can  be  distin- 
guished. The  first  was  the  era  of  Gregory  VII.  and  Henry  IV.  of  Ger- 
many [see  p.  261];  the  second  was  that  of  Innocent  III.  and  John  of 
England  and  Philip  Augustus  of  France  [see  p.  380];  the  third  was  that 
of  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip  the  Fair  of  France.  In  many  respects  the 
most  significant  document  pertaining  to  the  last  of  these  struggles  is 
the  papal  bull,  given  below,  commonly  designated  by  its  opening  words, 
Unam  Sanctam. 

The  question  at  issue  in  the  conflict  of  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip  the 
Fair  was  the  old  one  as  to  whether  the  papacy  should  be  allowed  to 
dominate  European  states  in  temporal  as  well  as  in  spiritual  matters. 
The  Franconian  emperors,  in  the  eleventh  century,  made  stubborn 
resistance  to  such  domination,  but  the  immediate  result  was  only  partial 

1  That  is,  infant  baptism  and  the  viaticum  (the  Lord's  Supper  when  ad- 
ministered to  persons  in  immediate  danger  of  death). 

2  Extreme  unction  is  the  sacrament  of  anointing  in  the  last  hours, — the 
application  of  consecrated  oil  by  a  priest  to  all  the  senses,  i.  e.,  to  eyes,  ears, 
nostrils,  etc.,  of  a  person  when  in  immediate  danger  of  death.  The  sacra- 
ment is  performed  for  the  remission  of  sins. 


384  THE    PAPACY   AND   THE   TEMPORAL   POWERS 

success,  while  later  efforts  to  keep  up  the  contest  practically  ruined  the 
power  of  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen.  Even  Philip  Augustus,  at  the 
opening  of  the  thirteenth  century,  had  been  compelled  to  yield,  at  least 
outwardly,  to  the  demands  of  the  papacy  respecting  his  marriages 
and  his  national  policies.  With  the  revival  of  the  issue  under  Boni- 
face and  Philip,  however,  the  tide  turned,  for  at  last  there  had  arisen 
a  nation  whose  sovereign  had  so  firm  a  grip  upon  the  loyalty  of  his  sub- 
jects that  he  could  defy  even  the  power  of  Rome  with  impunity.* 

The  quarrel  between  Boniface  and  Philip  first  assumed  importance 
in  1296 — two  years  after  the  accession  of  the  former  and  eleven  after 
that  of  the  latter.  The  immediate  subject  of  dispute  was  the  heavy 
taxes  which  Philip  was  levying  upon  the  clergy  of  France  and  the 
revenues  from  which  he  was  using  in  the  prosecution  of  his  wars  with 
Edward  I.  of  England;  but  royal  and  papal  interests  were  fundamentally 
at  variance  and  as  both  king  and  pope  were  of  a  combative  temper,  a 
conflict  was  inevitable,  irrespective  of  taxes  or  any  other  particular 
cause  of  controversy.  In  1$96  Boniface  issued  the  famous  bull  Clericis 
Laicos,  forbidding  laymen  (including  monarchs)  to  levy  subsidies  on  the 
clergy  without  papal  consent  and  prohibiting  the  clergy  to  pay  sub- 
sidies so  levied.  Philip  the  Fair  was  not  mentioned  in  the  bull,  but  the 
measure  was  clearly  directed  primarily  at  him.  He  retaliated  by  pro- 
hibiting the  export  of  money,  plate,  etc.,  from  the  realm,  thereby  cut- 
ting off  the  accustomed  papal  revenues  from  France.  In  1297  an  ap- 
parent reconciliation  was  effected,  the  Pope  practically  suspending  the 
bull  so  far  as  France  was  concerned,  though  only  to  secure  relief  from 
the  conflict  with  Philip  while  engaged  in  a  struggle  with  the  rival  Colonna 
family  at  Rome. 

In  1301  the  contest  was  renewed,  mainly  because  of  the  indiscretion 
of  a  papal  legate,  Bernard  Saisset,  bishop  of  Pamiers,  who  vilified  the 
king  and  was  promptly  imprisoned  for  his  violent  language.  Boniface 
took  up  the  cause  of  Saisset  and  called  an  ecclesiastical  council  to  regu- 
late the  affairs  of  church  and  state  in  France  and  to  rectify  the  injuries 
wrought  by  King  Philip.  The  claim  to  papal  supremacy  in  temporal  as 
well  as  spiritual  affairs,  which  Boniface  proposed  thus  to  make  good, 
was  boldly  stated  in  a  new  bull — that  of  Ausculta  Fili — in  1301.  At  the 
same  time  the  bull  Clericis  Laicos  was  renewed  for  France.  Philip  knew 
that  the  Franconians  and  his  own  Capetian  predecessors  had  failed  in 


THE   BULL'"  UNAM  SANCTAM  "   OF  BONIFACE  VIII.        385 

their  struggles  with  Rome  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  they  had  been 
lacking  in  consistent  popular  support.  National  feeling  was  unquestion- 
ably stronger  in  the  France  of  1301  than  in  the  Germany  of  1077,  or  even 
in  the  France  of  1200;  but  to  make  doubly  sure,  Philip,  in  1302,  caused 
the  first  meeting  of  a  complete  States  General  to  be  held,  and  from  this 
body,  representing  the  various  elements  of  the  French  people,  he  got 
reliable  pledges  of  support  in  his  efforts  to  resist  the  temporal  aggressions 
of  the  papacy.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Boniface  issued  the  bull 
Unam  Sanctam,  which  has  well  been  termed  the  classic  mediaeval  ex- 
pression of  the  papal  claims  to  universal  temporal  sovereignty. 

In  1303  an  assembly  of  French  prelates  and  magnates,  under  the 
inspiration  of  Philip,  brought  charges  of  heresy  and  misconduct  against 
Boniface  and  called  for  a  meeting  of  a  general  ecclesiastical  council  to 
depose  him.  Boniface  decided  to  issue  a  bull  excommunicating  and 
deposing  Philip.  But  before  the  date  set  for  this  step  (September,  1303) 
a  catastrophe  befell  the  papacy  which  resulted  in  an  unexpected  termi- 
nation of  the  episode.  On  the  day  before  the  bull  of  deposition  was  to 
be  issued  William  of  Nogaret,  whom  Philip  had  sent  to  Rome  to  force 
Boniface  to  call  a  general  council  to  try  the  charges  against  himself, 
led  a  band  of  troops  to  Anagni  and  took  the  Pope  prisoner  with  the  in- 
tention of  carrying  him  to  France  for  trial.  After  three  days  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Anagni  attacked  the  Frenchmen  and  drove  them  out  and 
Boniface,  who  had  barely  escaped  death,  returned  to  Rome.  The  un- 
fortunate Pope  never  recovered,  however,  from  the  effects  of  the  outrage 
and  his  death  in  October  (1303)  left  Philip,  by  however  unworthy 
means,  a  victor.  From  this  point  the  papacy  passes  under  the  domi- 
nation of  the  French  court  and  in  1309  began  the  dark  period  of  the  so- 
called  Babylonian  Captivity,  during  most  of  which  the  popes  dwelt  at 
Avignon  under  conditions  precisely  the  reverse  of  the  ideal  which  Boni- 
face so  clearly  asserted  in  Unam  Sanctam. 

Source — Text  based  upon  the  papal  register  published  by  P.  Mury  in  Revue 
des  Questions  Historiques,  Vol.  XLVI.  (July,  1889),  pp.  255-256. 
Translated  in  Oliver  J.  Thatcher  and  Edgar  H.  McNeal,  Source 
Book  for  Mediceval  History  (New  York),  1905,  pp.  314-317. 

The  true  faith  compels  us  to  believe  that  there  is  one  holy 
Catholic  Apostolic  Church,  and  this  we  firmly  believe  and  plainly 
Med.  Hist.— 25 


386  THE   PAPACY  AND   THE  TEMPORAL   POWERS 

confess.  And  outside  of  her  there  is  no  salvation  or  remission 
of  sins,  as  the  Bridegroom  says  in  the  Song  of  Solomon:  "My 
dove,  my  undenled,  is  but  one;  she  is  the  only  one  of  her  mother, 
she  is  the  choice  one  of  her  that  bare  her"  [Song  of  Sol.,vi.  9]; 
which  represents  the  one  mystical  body,  whose  head  is  Christ, 
but  the  head  of  Christ  is  God  [1  Cor.,  xi.  3].  In  this  Church  there 
An  assertion  *s  "one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism"  [Eph., 
of  the  unity  iv.  5].  For  in  the  time  of  the  flood  there  was  only 
one  ark,  that  of  Noah,  prefiguring  the  one  Church, 
and  it  was  " finished  above  in  one  cubit"  [Gen.,  vi.  16],  and  had 
but  one  helmsman  and  master,  namely,  Noah.  And  we  read 
that  all  things  on  the  earth  outside  of  this  ark  were  destroyed. 
This  Church  we  venerate  as  the  only  one,  since  the  Lord  said  by 
the  prophet:  " Deliver  my  soul  from  the  sword;  my  darling  from 
the  power  of  the  dog "  [Ps.,  xxii.  20].  He  prayed  for  his  soul,  that 
is,  for  himself,  the  head;  and  at  the  same  time  for  the  body,  and 
he  named  his  body,  that  is,  the  one  Church,  because  there  is  but 
one  Bridegroom  [John,  hi.  29],  and  because  of  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  of  the  sacraments,  and  of  his  love  for  the  Church.  This 
is  the  seamless  robe  of  the  Lord  which  was  not  rent  but  parted 
by  lot  [John,  xix.  23]. 

Therefore  there  is  one  body  of  the  one  and  only  Church,  and 
one  head,  not  two  heads,  as  if  the  Church  were  a  monster.  And 
this  head  is  Christ,  and  his  vicar,  Peter  and  his  successor;  for  the 
Lord  himself  said  to  Peter:  "Feed  my  sheep"  [John,  xxi.  16]. 
And  he  said  "my  sheep,"  in  general,  not  these  or  those  sheep  in 
particular;  from  which  it  is  clear  that  all  were  committed  to  him. 
a  ii  •  *  If>  therefore,  Greeks  [i.e.,  the  Greek  Church]  or 
the  Petrine  any  one  else  say  that  they  are  not  subject  to  Peter 
upremacy  ^^  ^g  successorSj  ^^ey  thereby  necessarily  con- 
fess that  they  are  not  of  the  sheep  of  Christ.  For  the  Lord  says, 
in  the  Gospel  of  John,  that  there  is  one  fold  and  only  one  shep- 
herd [John,  x.  16].  By  the  words  of  the  gospel  we  are  taught  that 
the  two  swords,  namely,  the  spiritual  authority  and  the  temporal, 


OF   BONIFACE   VIII.         387 

are  in  the  power  of  the  Church.  For  when  the  apostles  said 
"Here  are  two  swords"  [Luke,  xxii.  38] — that  is,  in  the  Church, 
since  it  was  the  apostles  who  were  speaking — the  Lord  did  not 
answer,  "It  is  too  much,"  but  "It  is  enough."  Whoever  denies 
that  the  temporal  sword  is  in  the  power  of  Peter  does  not  properly 
understand  the  word  of  the  Lord  when  He  said:  "Put  up  thy 
sword  into  the  sheath"  [John,xviii.  11].  Both  swords,  therefore, 
The  proper  re-  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal,  are  in  the  power 
itiainandS  tern-  of  the  Church.  The  former  is  to  be  used  by  the 
poral  powers  Church,  the  latter  for  the  Church;  the  one  by  the 
hand  of  the  priest,  the  other  by  the  hand  of  kings  and  knights, 
but  at  the  command  and  permission  of  the  priest.  Moreover,  it 
is  necessary  for  one  sword  to  be  under  the  other,  and  the  tem- 
poral authority  to  be  subjected  to  the  spiritual;  for  the  apostle 
says,  "For  there  is  no  power  but  of  God:  and  the  powers  that  be 
are  ordained  of  God"  [Rom.,  xiii.  1];  but  they  would  not  be  or- 
dained unless  one  were  subjected  to  the  other,  and,  as  it  were, 
the  lower  made  the  higher  by  the  other. 

For,  according  to  St.  Dionysius,1  it  is  a  law  of  divinity  that 
the  lowest  is  made  the  highest  through  the  intermediate.  Ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  universe  all  things  are  not  equally  and 
directly  reduced  to  order,  but  the  lowest  are  fitted  into  their 
order  through  the  intermediate,  and  the  lower  through  the 
higher.  And  we  must  necessarily  admit  that  the  spiritual  power 
_,  .  surpasses  any  earthly  power  in  dignity  and  honor, 

ority  of  the  because  spiritual  things  surpass  temporal  things. 
We  clearly  see  that  this  is  true  from  the  paying 
of  tithes,  from  the  benediction,  from  the  sanctificatiort,  from  the 
receiving  of  the  power,  and  from  the  governing  of  these  things. 
For  the  truth  itself  declares  that  the  spiritual  power  must 
establish  the  temporal  power  and  pass  judgment  on  it  if  it  is 
not  good.    Thus  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  concerning  the  Church 

1  St.  Dionysius  was  bishop  of  Alexandria  about  the  middle  of  the  third 
century.  He  was  a  pupil  of  the  great  theologian  Origen  and  himself  a  writer 
of  no  small  ability  on  the  doctrinal  questions  which  vexed  the  early  Church. 


388  THE   PAPACY   AND   THE   TEMPORAL   POWERS 

and  the  ecclesiastical  power  is  fulfilled:  "See,  I  have  this  day 

set  thee  over  the  nations  and  over  the  kingdoms,  to  root  out, 

and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy,  and  to  throw  down,  to  build, 

and  to  plant"  [Jer.,  i.  10]. 

Therefore  if  the  temporal  power  errs,  it  will  be  judged  by  the 

spiritual  power,  and  if  the  lower  spiritual  power  errs,  it  will  be 

The  highest        judged    by    its    superior.      But    if    the    highest 

spiritual  pow-  spiritual  power  errs,  it  cannot  be  judged  by 
er  (the  papacy)     r  ^  '  J™"  f  J 

responsible  to     men,  but  by  God  alone,     ior  the  apostle  says: 

God  alone  «But  he  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things,  yet 

he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man"  [1  Cor.,  ii.  15].  Now  this  au- 
thority, although  it  is  given  to  man  and  exercised  through  man, 
is  not  human,  but  divine.  For  it  was  given  by  the  word  of  the 
Lord  to  Peter,  and  the  rock  was  made  firm  to  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors, in  Christ  himself,  whom  he  had  confessed.  For  the  Lord 
said  to  Peter:  "Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be 
bound  in  heaven;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall 
be  loosed  in  heaven"  [Matt.,  xvi.  19]. 

Therefore,  whosoever  resisteth  this  power  thus  ordained  of 
God  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God  [Rom.,  xiii.  2],  unless  there 
are  two  principles  [beginnings],  as  Manichseus  1  pretends  there 
are.  But  this  we  judge  to  be  false  and  heretical.  For  Moses  says 
that,  not  in  the  beginnings,  but  in  the  beginning,  God  created 
Submission  to  the  heaven  and  the  earth  [Gen.,i.  1].  We  there- 
sent&lPtoysal-  ^ore  declare,  say,  and  affirm  that  submission  on 
vation  the  part  of  every  man  to  the  bishop  of  Rome  is 

altogether  necessary  for  his  salvation. 

i  Manichseus  was  a  learned  Persian  who,  in  the  third  century,  worked  out 
a  system  of  doctrine  which  sought  to  combine  the  principles  of  Christianity 
with  others  taken  over  from  the  Persian  and  kindred  Oriental  religions. 
The  most  prominent  feature  of  the  resulting  creed  was  the  conception  of  an 
absolute  dualism  running  throughout  the  universe — light  and  darkness, 
good  and  evil,  soul  and  body — which  existed  from  the  beginning  and  should 
exist  forever.  The  Manichaean  sect  spread  from  Persia  into  Asia  Minor 
North  Africa,  Sicily,  and  Italy.  Though  persecuted  by  Diocletian,  and  after- 
wards by  some  of  the  Christian  emperors,  it  had  many  adherents  as  late  as  the 
sixth  century,  and  certain  of  its  ideas  appeared  under  new  names  at  still  later 
times,  notably  among  the  Albigenses  in  southern  France  in  the  twelfth  century. 


GREAT  SCHISM   AND   COUNCILS   OF   PISA  AND   CONSTANCE   389 

68.    The  Great  Schism  and  the  Councils  of  Pisa  and  Constance 

The  "Babylenian  Captivity" — begun  in  1305,  or  perhaps  more  prop- 
erly in  1309,  when  the  French  Pope,  Clement  V.,  took  up  his  residence 
regularly  at  Avignon — lasted  until  1377.  During  these  sixty  or  seventy 
years  the  College  of  Cardinals  consisted  chiefly  of  Frenchmen,  all  of  the 
seven  popes  were  of  French  nationality,  and  for  the  most  part  the 
papal  authority  was  little  more  than  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  aggres- 
sive French  sovereigns.  In  1377,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  Italian  clergy 
and  people,  Pope  Gregory  XL  removed  to  Rome,  where  he  died  in  1378. 
In  the  election  that  followed  the  Roman  populace,  determined  to  bring 
the  residence  of  the  popes  at  Avignon  to  an  end  once  for  all,  demanded  a 
Roman,  or  at  least  an  Italian,  pope.  The  majority  of  the  cardinals  were 
French,  but  they  could  not  agree  upon  a  French  candidate  and,  intimi- 
dated by  the  threats  of  the  mob,  they  at  last  chose  a  Neapolitan  who 
took  the  name  Urban  VI.  A  few  months  of  Urban 's  obstinate  adminis- 
tration convinced  the  cardinals  that  they  had  made  a  serious  mistake, 
and,  on  the  ground  that  their  choice  had  been  unduly  influenced  by 
popular  clamor,  they  sought  to  nullify  the  election  and  to  replace  Urban 
by  a  Genevan  who  took  the  title  Clement  VII.  Urban  utterly  refused 
thus  to  be  put  aside,  so  that  there  were  now  two  popes,  each  duly  elected 
by  the  College  of  Cardinals  and  each  claiming  the  undivided  allegiance 
of  Christendom.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Great  Schism,  destined 
to  work  havoc  in  the  Church  for  a  full  generation,  or  until  finally  ended 
in  1417.  Clement  VII.  fixed  his  abode  at  Avignon  and  French  influence 
secured  for  him  the  support  of  Spain,  Scotland,  and  Sicily.  The  rest  of 
Europe,  displeased  with  the  subordination  of  the  papacy  to  France  and 
French  interests,  declared  for  Urban,  who  was  pledged  to  maintain  the 
papal  capital  at  Rome. 

France  must  be  held  responsible  in  the  main  for  the  evils  of  the  Great 
Schism — a  breach  in  the  Church  which  she  deliberately  created  and  for 
many  years  maintained;  but  she  herself  suffered  by  it  more  than  any 
other  nation  of  Europe  because  of  the  annates,1  the  decime,2  and  other 

i  Annates  were  payments  made  to  the  pope  by  newly  elected  or  appointed 
ecclesiastical  officials  of  the  higher  sort.  They  were  supposed  to  comprise 
the  first  year's  income  from  the  bishop's  or  abbot's  benefice. 

2  The  decime  was  an  extraordinary  royal  revenue  derived  from  the  pay- 
ment by  the  clergy  of  a  tenth  of  the  annual  income  from  their  benefices.    Its 


390  THE   PAPACY  AND  THE   TEMPORAL   POWERS 

taxes  which  were  imposed  upon  the  French  clergy  and  people  to  support 
the  luxurious  and  at  times  extravagant  papal  court  at  Avignon,  or  which 
were  exacted  by  ambitious  monarchs  under  the  cover  of  papal  license. 
In  the  course  of  time  the  impossible  situation  created  by  the  Schism 
demanded  a  remedy  and  in  fairness  it  should  be  observed  that  in  the 
work  of  adjustment  the  leading  part  was  taken  by  the  French.  After 
the  death  of  Clement  VII.,  in  1394,  the  French  court  sincerely  desired 
to  bring  the  Schism  to  an  end  on  terms  that  would  be  fair  to  all.  Al- 
ready in  1393  King  Charles  VI.  had  laid  the  case  before  the  University 
of  Paris  and  asked  for  an  opinion  as  to  the  best  course  to  be  pursued. 
The  authorities  of  the  university  requested  each  member  of  the  various 
faculties  to  submit  his  idea  of  a  solution  of  the  problem  and  from  the 
mass  of  suggestions  thus  brought  together  a  committee  of  fifty-four 
professors,  masters,  and  doctors  worked  out  the  three  lines  of  action 
set  forth  in  selection  (a)  below.  The  first  plan,  i.e.,  that  both  popes 
should  resign  as  a  means  of  restoring  harmony,  was  accepted  as  the 
proper  one  by  an  assembly  of  the  French  clergy  convened  in  1395.  It 
was  doomed  to  defeat,  however,  by  the  vacillation  of  both  Benedict 
XIII.  at  Avignon  and  Boniface  IX.  at  Rome,  and  in  the  end  it  was 
agreed  to  fall  back  upon  the  third  plan  which  the  University  of  Paris  had 
proposed,  i.e.,  the  convening  of  a  general  council.  There  was  no  doubt 
that  such  a  council  could  legally  be  summoned  only  by  the  pope,  but 
finally  the  cardinals  attached  to  both  popes  deserted  them  and  united 
in  issuing  the  call  in  their  own  name. 

The  council  met  at  Pisa  in  1409  and  proceeded  to  clear  up  the  question 
of  its  own  legality  and  authority  by  issuing  the  unequivocal  declaration 
comprised  in  (b)  below.  It  furthermore  declared  both  popes  deposed  and 
elected  a  new  one,  who  took  the  name  Alexander  V.  Neither  of  the 
previous  popes,  however,  recognized  the  council's  action,  so  now  there 
were  three  rivals  instead  of  two  and  the  situation  was  only  so  much 
worse  than  before.  In  1410  Alexander  V.  died  and  the  cardinals  chose 
as  his  successor  John  XXIII.,  a  man  whose  life  was  notoriously  wicked, 

prototype  was  the  Saladin  tithe,  imposed  by  Philip  Augustus  (1180-1223) 
for  the  financing  of  his  crusade.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  throughout  the  fourteenth,  the  decime  was  called  for  by  the  kings  with 
considerable  frequency,  often  ostensibly  for  crusading  purposes,  and  it  was 
generally  obtained  by  a  more  or  less  compulsory  vote  of  the  clergy,  or  with- 
out their  consent  at  all. 


GREAT  SCHISM  AND  COUNCILS  OF  PISA  AND   CONSTANCE  391 

but  who  was  far  from  lacking  in  political  sagacity.  Three  years  later 
the  capture  of  Rome  by  the  king  of  Naples  forced  John  to  appeal  for 
assistance  to  the  Emperor  Sigismund ;  and  Sigismund  demanded,  before 
extending  the  desired  aid,  that  a  general  church  council  be  summoned 
to  meet  on  German  soil  for  the  adjustment  of  the  tangled  papal  situa- 
tion. The  result  was  the  Council  of  Constance,  whose  sessions  extended 
from  November,  1414,  to  April,  1418,  and  which,  because  of  its  general 
European  character,  was  able  to  succeed  where  the  Council  of  Pisa  had 
failed.  In  the  decree  Sacrosancta  given  below  (c),  issued  in  April, 
1415,  we  have  the  council's  notable  assertion  of  its  supreme  authority 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  even  as  against  the  pope  himself.  The 
Schism  was  healed  with  comparative  facility.  Gregory  XII.,  who 
had  been  the  pope  at  Rome,  but  who  was  now  in  exile,  sent  en- 
voys to  offer  his  abdication.  Benedict  XIII.,  likewise  a  fugitive, 
was  deposed  and  found  himself  without  supporters.  John  XXIII. 
was  deposed  for  his  unworthy  character  and  had  no  means  of  offer- 
ing resistance.  The  cardinals,  together  with  representatives  of  the 
five  "nations"  into  which  the  council  was  divided,  harmoniously  selected 
for  pope  a  Roman  cardinal,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Martin  V.  This 
was  in  1417.  The  Schism  was  at  an  end,  though  the  work  of  combating 
heresy  and  of  propagating  reform  within  the  Church  went  on  in  succes- 
sive councils,  notably  that  of  Basel  (1431-1449). 

Sources — (a)  Lucae  d'Achery,  Spicilegium,  sive  Collectio  veterum  aliquot 
Scriptorum  qui  in  Uallice  Bibliothecis  Delituerant  ["Gleanings, 
or  a  Collection  of  some  Early  Writings,  which  survive  in  Gal- 
lic Libraries"],  Paris,  1723,  Vol.  I.,  p.  777.  Translated  in 
Thatcher  and  McNeal,  Source  Book  for  Mediceval  History 
(New  York,  1905),  pp.  326-327. 

(b)  Raynaldus,  Annales,  anno  1409  ["Annals,  year  1409"],  §  71. 

(c)  Von  der  Hardt,  Magnum  Constantiense  Concilium  ["Great 

Council  of  Constance"],  Vol.  II.,  p.  98. 

(a) 

The  first  way.  Now  the  first  way  to  end  the  Schism  is  that 
both  parties  should  entirely  renounce  and  resign  all  rights  which 
they  may  have,  or  claim  to  have,  to  the  papal  office. 

The  second  way.  But  if  both  cling  tenaciously  to  their  rights 
and  refuse  to  resign,  as  they  have  thus  far  done,  we  would  propose 


392  THE   PAPACY  AND  THE   TEMPORAL  POWERS 

a  resort  to  arbitration.  That  is,  that  they  should  together  choose 
worthy  and  suitable  men,  or  permit  such  to  be  chosen  in  a 
Three  possible  regular  and  canonical  way,  and  these  should  have 

solutions  of  the  fun  power  and  authority  to  discuss  the  case  and 

Schism  offered  . ' 

by  the  Univer-  decide  it,  and  if  necessary  and   expedient    and 

sity  o  Pans  approved  by  those  who,  according  to  the  canon 
law,  have  the  authority  [i.e.,  the  cardinals],  they  might  also 
have  the  right  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  pope. 

The  third  way.  If  the  rival  popes,  after  being  urged  in  a 
brotherly  and  friendly  manner,  will  not  accept  either  of  the 
above  ways,  there  is  a  third  way  which  we  propose  as  an  ex- 
cellent remedy  for  this  sacrilegious  schism.  We  mean  that  the 
matter  should  be  left  to  a  general  council.  This  general  council 
might  be  composed,  according  to  canon  law,  only  of  prelates;  or, 
since  many  of  them  are  very  illiterate,  and  many  of  them  are 
bitter  partisans  of  one  or  the  other  pope,  there  might  be  joined 
with  the  prelates  an  equal  number  of  masters  and  doctors  of 
theology  and  law  from  the  faculties  of  approved  universities. 
Or,  if  this  does  not  seem  sufficient  to  any  one,  there  might  be  added, 
besides,  one  or  more  representatives  from  cathedral  chapters  and 
the  chief  monastic  orders,  to  the  end  that  all  decisions  might  be 
rendered  only  after  most  careful  examination  and  mature  de- 
liberation. 

(b) 
This   holy   and   general   council,   representing   the   universal 
Church,  decrees  and  declares  that  the  united  college  of  cardinals 
was  empowered  to  call  the  council,  and  that  the  power  to  call 
_    .       .  such  a  council  belongs  of  right  to  the  aforesaid 

of  the  Council  holy  college  of  cardinals,  especially  now  when 
there  is  a  detestable  schism.  The  council  further 
declares  that  this  holy  council,  representing  the  universal  Church, 
caused  both  claimants  of  the  papal  throne  to  be  cited  in  the 
gates  and  doors  of  the  churches  of  Pisa  to  come  and  hear  the 
final  decision  [in  the  matter  of  the  Schism]  pronounced,  or  to 


THE   PRAGMATIC   SANCTION   OF   BOURGES  393 

give  a  good  and  sufficient  reason  why  such  sentence  should  not 
be  rendered. 

(c) 
This  holy  synod  of  Constance,  being  a  general  council,  and 
legally  assembled  in  the  Holy  Spirit  for  the  praise  of  God  and 
for  ending  the  present  schism,  and  for  the  union  and  reforma- 
tion of  the  Church  of  God  in  its  head  and  in  its  members,  in  order 
more  easily,  more  securely,  more  completely,  and  more  fully  to 
bring  about  the  union  and  reformation  of  the  Church  of  God, 
The  Council  of  ora^ams>  declares,  and  decrees  as  follows:  First  it 
Constance  as-  declares  that  this  synod,  legally  assembled,  is  a 
riority  to  even  general  council,  and  represents  the  Catholic 
the  papacy  church  militant  and  has  its  authority  directly 
from  Christ;  and  everybody,  of  whatever  rank  or  dignity,  in- 
cluding also  the  pope,  is  bound  to  obey  this  council  in  those 
things  which  pertain  to  the  faith,  to  the  ending  of  this  schism, 
and  to  a  general  reformation  of  the  Church  in  its  head  and  mem- 
bers. Likewise  it  declares  that  if  any  one,  of  whatever  rank, 
condition,  or  dignity,  including  also  the  pope,  shall  refuse  to 
obey  the  commands,  statutes,  ordinances,  or  orders  of  this  holy 
council,  or  of  any  other  holy  council  properly  assembled,  in 
regard  to  the  ending  of  the  Schism  and  to  the  reformation  of  the 
Church,  he  shall  be  subject  to  the  proper  punishment,  and,  unless 
he  repents,  he  shall  be  duly  punished,  and,  if  necessary,  recourse 
shall  be  had  to  other  aids  of  justice. 

69.   The  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges  (1438) 

The  Council  of  Basel,  convened  in  1431,  had  for  its  object  a  thorough- 
going reformation  of  the  Church,  "in  its  head  and  its  members,"  from 
papacy  to  parish  priest.  Like  all  of  the  councils  of  the  period,  its  spirit 
was  distinctly  anti-papal  and  for  this  reason  Pope  Eugene  IV.  sought 
to  bring  it  under  his  control  by  transferring  it  to  Bologna  and,  failing 
in  this,  to  turn  its  deliberations  into  channels  other  than  criticism  of 
the  papacy.    While  the  negotiations  of  Eugene  and  the  council  were  in 


394  THE    PAPACY   AND   THE   TEMPORAL   POWERS 

progress  a  step  fraught  with  great  significance  was  taken  in  France  in 
the  promulgation  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges.1  France  was 
the  only  country  in  which  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  councils — 
Pisa,  Constance,  Basel,  and  the  rest — had  taken  firm  hold.  In  1438 
Charles  VII.  convened  at  Bourges  an  assembly  composed  of  leading  pre- 
lates, councillors,  and  princes  of  the  royal  blood,  to  which  the  Pope  and 
the  Council  of  Basel  both  sent  delegates.  This  assembly  proceeded  to 
adapt  the  decrees  of  the  council  to  the  conditions  and  needs  of  France, 
on  the  evident  assumption  that  the  will  of  the  French  magnates  in  such 
matters  was  superior  to  that  of  both  pope  and  council,  so  far  as  France 
was  concerned.  The  action  at  Bourges  well  illustrates  the  growing 
spirit  of  French  nationality  which  had  sprung  up  since  the  recent 
achievements  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

The  Pragmatic  Sanction  dealt  in  the  main  with  four  subjects — 
the  authority  of  church  councils,  the  diminishing  of  papal  patron- 
age, the  restriction  of  papal  taxation,  and  the  limitation  of  appeals 
to  Rome.  Together  these  matters  are  commonly  spoken  of  as  the 
"Gallican  liberties,"  i.e.,  the  liberties  of  the  Gallic  or  French  church, 
and  they  implied  the  right  of  the  national  church  to  administer  its  own 
affairs  with  only  the  slightest  interference  from  the  pope  or  other  outside 
powers;  in  other  words,  they  were  essentially  anti-papal.  Louis  XI.,  the 
successor  of  Charles  VII.,  for  diplomatic  reasons,  sought  to  revoke  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  but  the  Parlement  of  Paris  refused  to  register 
the  ordinance  and  for  all  practical  purposes  the  Pragmatic  was  main- 
tained until  1516.  In  that  year  Francis  I.  established  the  relations  of 
the  papacy  and  the  French  clergy  on  the  basis  of  a  new  "concordat," 
which,  however,  was  not  very  unlike  the  Pragmatic.  The  Pragmatic 
is  of  interest  to  the  student  of  French  history  mainly  because  of  the  de- 
gree in  which  it  enhanced  the  power  of  the  crown,  particularly  in  re- 
spect to  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  realm,  and  because  of  the  testi- 
mony it  bears  to  the  declining  influence  of  the  papacy  in  the  stronger 
nations  like  France  and  England.  The  text  printed  below  represents 
only  an  abstract  of  the  document,  which  in  all  included  thirty-three 
chapters. 

1  Pragmatic,  in  the  general  sense,  means  any  sort  of  decree  of  public 
importance;  in  its  more  special  usage  it  denotes  an  ordinance  of  the  crown 
regulating  the  relations  of  the  national  clergy  with  the  papacy.  The  modern 
equivalent  is  "concordat." 


THE   PRAGMATIC   SANCTION   OF   BOURGES  395 


Source. — Text  in  Vilevault  et  Brequigny,  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France 
de  la  Troisieme  Race  (Paris,  1772),  Vol.  XIII.,  pp.  267-291. 

The  king  declares  that,  according  to  the  oath  taken  at  their 
coronation,  kings  are  bound  to  defend  and  protect  the  holy 
Charles  VII.       Church,  its  ministers  and  its  sacred  offices,  and 

recognizes  the    zealously  to  guard  in  their  kingdoms  the  decrees 
obligations  of  J         &  & 

the  king  to  the  of  the  holy  fathers..  The  general  council  as- 
Church  sembled  at  Basel  to  continue  the  work  begun  by 
the  councils  of  Constance  and  Siena,1  and  to  labor  for  the  reform 
of  the  Church,  in  both  its  head  and  members,  having  had  pre- 
sented to  it  numerous  decrees  and  regulations,  with  the  request 
that  it  accept  them  and  cause  them  to  be  observed  in  the  king- 
dom, the  king  has  convened  an  assembly  composed  of  prelates 
and  other  ecclesiastics  representing  the  clergy  of  France  and  of 
the  Dauphine.2  He  has  presided  in  person  over  its  deliberations, 
surrounded  by  his  son,  the  princes  of  the  blood,  and  the  principal 
lords  of  the  realm.  He  has  listened  to  the  ambassadors  of  the 
Pope  and  the  council.  From  the  examination  of  prelates  and 
.,  the  most  renowned  doctors,  and  from  the  thor- 
lent  in  the  oughgoing  discussions  of  the  assembly,  it  appears 
that,  from  the  falling  into  decay  of  the  early 
discipline,  the  churches  of  the  kingdom  have  been  made  to  suffer 
from  all  sorts  of  insatiable  greed;  that  the  reserve  and  the  grace 

1  When  the  Council  of  Constance  came  to  an  end,  in  April,  1418,  it  was 
agreed  between  this  body  and  Pope  Martin  V.  that  a  similar  council  should 
be  convened  at  Pavia  in  1423.  When  the  time  arrived,  conditions  were  far 
from  favorable,  but  the  University  of  Paris  pressed  the  Pope  to  observe  his 
pledge  in  the  matter  and  the  council  was  duly  convened.  Very  few  members 
appeared  at  Pavia,  and,  the  plague  soon  breaking  out  there,  the  meeting 
was  transferred  to  Siena.  Even  there  only  five  German  prelates  were  present, 
six  French,  and  not  one  Spanish.  Small  though  it  was,  the  council  entered 
upon  a  course  so  independent  and  self-assertive  that  in  the  following  year 
the  Pope  was  glad  to  take  advantage  of  its  paucity  of  numbers  to  declare 
it  dissolved. 

2  The  Dauphine"  was  a  region  on  the  east  side  of  the  Rhone  which,  in  1349, 
was  purchased  of  Humbert,  Dauphin  of  Vienne,  by  Philip  VI.,  and  ceded  by 
the  latter  to  his  grandson  Charles,  the  later  Charles  V.  (1364-1380).  Charles 
assumed  the  title  of  "  the  Dauphin,"  which  became  the  established  designa- 
tion of  the  heir-apparent  to  the  French  throne. 


396  THE    PAPACY   AND   THE   TEMPORAL   POWERS 

expectative  J  have  given  rise  to  grievous  abuses  and  unbearable 
burdens;  that  the  most  notable  and  best  endowed  benefices  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  unknown  men,  who  do  not  conform  at 
all  to  the  requirement  of  residence  and  who  do  not  understand  the 
speech  of  the  people  committed  to  their  care,  and  consequently 
are  neglectful  of  the  needs  of  their  souls,  like  mercenaries  who 
dream  of  nothing  whatever  but  temporal  gain;  that  thus  the 
worship  of  Christ  is  declining,  piety  is  enfeebled,  the  laws  of  the 
Church  are  violated,  and  buildings  for  religious  uses  are  falling 
in  ruin.  The  clergy  abandon  their  theological  studies,  because 
there  is  no  hope  of  advancement.  Conflicts  without  number  rage 
over  the  possession  of  benefices,  plurality  of  which  is  coveted  by 
an  execrable  ambition.  Simony  is  everywhere  glaring;  the 
prelates  and  other  collators  2  are  pillaged  of  their  rights  and  their 
ministry;  the  rights  of  patrons  are  impaired;  and  the  wealth  of 
the  kingdom  goes  into  the  hands  of  foreigners,  to  the  detriment 
of  the  clergy. 

Since,  in  the  judgment  of  the  prelates  and  other  ecclesiastics, 
the  decrees  of  the  holy  council  of  Basel  seemed  to  afford  a  suitable 
The  decrees  of  remedy  for  all  these  evils,  after  mature  delibera- 

witifsomePted  tion>  we  have  decided  to  accept  them— some 
modifications  without  change,  others  with  certain  modifica- 
tions— without  wishing  to  cast  doubt  upon  the  power  and  au- 
thority of  the  council,  but  at  the  same  time  taking  account  of 
the  necessities  of  the  occasion  and  of  the  customs  of  the  nation. 
1.  General  councils  shall  be  held  every  ten  years,  in  places  to 
be  designated  by  the  pope. 

i  Under  the  grace  expectative  the  pope  conferred  upon  a  prelate  a  benefice 
which  at  the  time  was  filled,  to  be  assumed  as  soon  as  it  should  fall  vacant. 
Benefices  of  larger  importance,  such  as  the  offices  of  bishop  and  abbot, 
were  often  subject  to  the  reserve;  that  is,  the  pope  regularly  reserved  to  him- 
self the  right  of  filling  them,  sometimes  before,  sometimes  after,  the  vacancy 
occurred.  These  acts  constituted  clear  assumptions  by  the  popes  of  power 
which  under  the  law  of  the  Church  was  not  theirs,  and,  though  the  framers 
of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  had  motives  which  were  more  or  less  selfish  for 
combatting  the  reserve  and  the  grdce  expectative,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  the  abuses  aimed  at  were  as  real  as  they  were  represented  to  be. 

2  Those  who  presented  and  installed  men  in  benefices. 


THE   PRAGMATIC   SANCTION   OF   BOURGES  397 

2.  The  authority  of  the  general  council  is  superior  to  that  of 
the  pope  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  faith,  the  extirpation  of 
schism,  and  the  reform  of  the  Church  in  both  head  and  mem- 
bers.1 

3.  Election  is  reestablished  for  ecclesiastical  offices;  but  the 
king,  or  the  princes  of  his  kingdom,  without  violating  the  canoni- 
cal rules,  may  make  recommendations  when  elections  are  to  occur 
in  the  chapters  or  the  monasteries.2 

4.  The  popes  shall  not  have  the  right  to  reserve  the  collation 
of  benefices,  or  to  bestow  any  benefice  before  it  becomes  vacant. 

5.  All  grants  of  benefices  made  by  the  pope  in  virtue  of  the 
droit  d 'expectative  are  hereby  declared  null.  Those  who  shall 
have  received  such  benefices  shall  be  punished  by  the  secular 
power.  The  popes  shall  not  have  the  right  to  interfere  by  the  cre- 
ation of  canonships.3 

6.  Appeals  to  Rome  are  prohibited  until  every  other  grade  of 
jurisdiction  shall  have  been  exhausted. 

7.  Annates  are  prohibited.4 

1  These  first  two  chapters  reproduce  without  change  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Basel.  The  second  reiterates,  in  substance,  the  declaration  of  the 
Council  of  Constance  [see  p.  393]. 

2 That  is,  the  "canonical"  system  of  election  of  bishops  by  the  chapters 
and  of  abbots  by  the  monks.  The  Pragmatic  differs  in  this  clause  from  the 
decree  of  the  Council  of  Basel  in  allowing  temporal  princes  to  recommend 
persons  for  election. 

3  This  means  that  the  pope  is  not  to  add  to  the  number  of  canons  in  any 
cathedral  chapter  as  a  means  of  influencing  the  composition  and  deliberations 
of  that  body. 

4  Annates  were  ordinarily  the  first  year's  revenues  of  a  benefice  which, 
under  the  prevailing  system,  were  supposed  to  be  paid  by  the  incumbent  to 
the  pope.  The  Pragmatic  goes  on  to  provide  that  during  the  lifetime  of 
Pope  Eugene  one-fifth  of  the  accustomed  annates  should  continue  to  be 
paid. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   EMPIRE   IN  THE  TWELFTH,  THIRTEENTH,  AND   FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURIES 

70.    The  Peace  of  Constance  (1183) 

With  the  election  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  as  emperor,  in  1152,  a  new 
stage  of  the  great  papal-imperial  combat  was  entered  upon,  though 
under  conditions  quite  different  from  those  surrounding  the  contest  in 
the  preceding  century  [see  Chap.  XVI].  The  Empire  was  destined  to 
succumb  in  the  end  to  the  papacy,  but  with  a  sovereign  of  Frederick's 
energy  and  ability  at  its  head  it  was  able  at  least  to  make  a  stubborn 
fight  and  to  meet  defeat  with  honor.  The  new  reign  was  inaugurated  by 
a  definite  announcement  of  the  Emperor's  intention  to  consolidate  and 
strengthen  the  imperial  government  .throughout  all  Germany  and  Italy. 
The  task  in  Germany  was  far  from  simple ;  in  Italy  it  was  the  most  for- 
midable that  could  have  been  conceived,  and  this  for  the  reason  that  the 
Italian  population  was  largely  gathered  in  cities  with  strong  political 
and  military  organization,  with  all  the  traditions  of  practical  indepen- 
dence, and  with  no  thought  of  submitting  to  the  government  of  an  em- 
peror or  any  other  claimant  to  more  than  merely  nominal  sovereignty. 

Trouble  began  almost  at  once  between  Frederick  and  the  free  commune 
of  Milan,  though  war  was  averted  for  a  time  by  the  oaths  taken  to  the 
Emperor  on  the' occasion  of  his  first  expedition  across  the  Alps  in  1154. 
Between  that  date  and  1158  the  consuls  of  the  city  were  detected  in 
treacherous  conduct  and,  the  people  refusing  to  disavow  them,  in  the 
latter  year  the  Emperor  again  crossed  the  Alps,  bent  on  nothing  less 
than  the  annihilation  of  the  commune  and  the  dispersion  of  its  inhabi- 
tants. He  carried  with  him  a  larger  army  than  a  head  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  had  ever  led  into  Italy.  The  Milanese  submitted,  under 
conditions  extremely  humiliating,  and  Frederick,  after  being  assured 
by  the  doctors  of  law  at  the  new  university  of  Bologna  that  he  was  acting 

398 


THE   PEACE   OF   CONSTANCE  399 

quite  withhi  the  letter  of  the  Roman  law,  proceeded  to  lay  claim  to  the 
regalia  (royal  rights,  such  as  tolls  from  roads  and  rivers,  products  of 
mines,  and  the  estates  of  criminals),  to  the  right  to  levy  an  extraordinary 
war  tax,  and  to  that  of  appointing  the  chief  civic  magistrates.  Dis- 
affection broke  out  at  once  in  many  of  the  communes,  but  chiefly  at 
Milan;  whereupon  Frederick  came  promptly  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
time  had  arrived  to  rid  himself  of  this  irreconcilable  opponent  of  his 
measures.  The  city  was  besieged  and,  after  its  inhabitants  had  been 
starved  into  surrender,  almost  completely  destroyed  (1162). 

Only  temporarily  did  the  barbarous  act  have  its  intended  effect;  the 
net  result  was  a  widespread  revival  of  the  communal  spirit,  which  ex- 
pressed itself  in  the  formation  of  a  sturdy  confederacy  known  as  the 
Lombard  League.  One  of  the  League's  first  acts  was  to  rebuild  Milan, 
under  whose  leadership  the  struggle  with  the  Emperor  was  actively 
renewed.  In  1168  a  new  city  was  founded  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps  near 
Pavia  to  serve  as  a  base  of  operations  in  the  campaign  which  the  League 
proposed  to  wage  against  the  common  enemy.  It  was  given  the  name 
Alessandria  (or  Alexandria)  in  honor  of  Pope  Alexander  III.,  who  was 
friendly  to  the  cause  of  the  cities.  In  1174  Frederick  began  an  open 
attack  on  the  League,  but  in  1176,  at  Legnano,  he  suffered  an  over- 
whelming defeat,  due  largely  to  his  failure  to  receive  reinforcements 
from  Germany.  The  adjustment  of  peace  was  intrusted  to  an  assembly 
at  Venice  in  which  all  parties  were  represented.  The  result  was  the 
treaty  of  Venice  (1177),  the  advantages  of  which  were  wholly  against  the 
Empire.  A  truce  of  six  years  was  granted  the  cities,  with  the  under- 
standing that  all  details  were  to  be  arranged  within,  or  at  the  expiration 
of,  that  time. 

When  the  close  of  the  period  arrived,  in  1183,  Frederick  no  longer 
dreamed  of  subduing  and  punishing  the  rebellious  Italians,  but  in- 
stead was  quite  ready  to  agree  to  a  permanent  peace.  The  result  was 
the  Peace  of  Constance,  which  has  been  described  as  the  earliest  in- 
ternational agreement  of  the  kind  in  modern  history.  By  this  instru- 
ment the  theoretical  overlordship  of  the  Emperor  in  Italy  was  reasserted, 
though  in  fact  it  had  never  been  denied.  Beyond  this,  however,  the 
communes  were  recognized  as  essentially  independent.  Those  who  had 
enjoyed  the  right  to  choose  their  own  magistrates  retained  it;  their 
financial   obligations  to  the  Emperor  were    clearly  defined;    and  the 


400  THE   EMPIRE   IN  THE   LATER  MIDDLE   AGES 

League  was  conceded  to  be  a  legitimate  and  permanent  organization. 
By  yielding  on  numerous  vital  points  the  Empire  had  vindicated  its 
right  to  exist,  but  its  administrative  machinery,  so  far  as  Italy  was 
concerned,  was  still  further  impaired.  This  machinery,  it  must  be 
said,  had  never  been  conspicuously  effective  south  of  the  Alps.  As 
for  Frederick,  he  set  out  in  1189  upon  the  Third  Crusade,  during  the 
course  of  which  he  met  his  death  in  Asia  Minor  without  being  permitted 
to  see  the  Holy  Land. 

Source — Text  in  Monumerda  Germanice  Historica,  Legum  Sectio  IV.  (Weiland 
ed.),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  411-418.  Adapted  from  translation  in  Oliver  J. 
Thatcher  and  Edgar  H.  McNeal,  Source  Book  for  Mediaeval  History 
(New  York,  1905,)  pp.  199-202. 

1.  We,  Frederick,  emperor  of  the  Romans,  and  our  son  Henry, 
king  of  the  Romans,1  hereby  grant  to  you,  the  cities,  territories, 
c  •  a  *  anc^  Persons  °f  the  League,  the  regalia  and  other 
the  cities  of        rights  within  and  without  the  cities,  as  you  have 

been  accustomed  to  hold  them;  that  is,  each  mem- 
ber of  the  League  shall  have  the  same  rights  as  the  city  of  Verona 
has  had  in  the  past,  or  has  now. 

2.  The  members  of  the  League  shall  exercise  freely  and  without 
interference  from  us  all  the  rights  which  they  have  exercised  of  old. 

3.  These  are  the  rights  which  are  guaranteed  to  you:  the 
fodrum,2  forests,  pastures,  bridges,  streams,  mills,  fortifications 
of  the  cities,  criminal  and  civil  jurisdiction,  and  all  other  rights 
which  concern  the  welfare  of  the  city. 

4.  The  regalia  which  are  not  to  be  granted  to  the  members 
of  the  League  shall  be  determined  in  the  following  manner:  in 
How  the  re-  tne  case  °^  eacn  c^f  certain  men  shall  be  chosen 
galia  remain-  for  this  purpose  from  both  the  bishopric  and  the 
ing  to  the  Em-  .  ,  .  „  .  .  ,  ,  , 
peror  were  to     city;  these  men  shall  be  of  good  repute,  capable 

be  determined  Qf  deciding  these  questions,  and  such  as  are  not 
prejudiced  against  either  party.    Acting  with  the  bishop  of  the 

i  Henry  VI.  succeeded  his  father  as  emperor,  reigning  from  1190  to  1197. 

2  The  term  (meaning  literally  "  fodder ")  designates  the  obligation  to 
furnish  provisions  for  the  royal  army.  The  right  of  demanding  such  provi- 
sions was  now  given  up  by  the  Emperor. 


THE   PEACE   OF    CONSTANCE  401 

diocese,  they  shall  swear  to  inquire  into  the  questions  of  the 
regalia  and  to  set  aside  those  that  by  right  belong  to  us.  If, 
however,  the  cities  do  not  wish  to  submit  to  this  inquisition, 
they  shall  pay  to  us  an  annual  tribute  of  2,000  marks  in  silver  as 
compensation  for  our  regalia.  If  this  sum  seems  excessive,  it 
may  be  reduced. 

5.  If  anyone  appeals  to  us  in  regard  to  matters  which  are 
by  this  treaty  admitted  to  be  under  your  jurisdiction,  we  agree 
not  to  hear  such  an  appeal. 

8.  All  privileges,  gifts,  and  concessions  made  in  the  time  of  the 
war  by  us  or  our  representatives  to  the  prejudice  or  injury  of  the 
cities,  territories,  or  members  of  the  League  are  to  be  null  and  void. 

9.  Consuls  1  of  cities  where  the  bishop  holds  the  position  of 
count  from  the  king  or  emperor  shall  receive  their  office  from 
the  bishop,  if  this  has  been  the  custom  before.  In  all  other  cities 
The  the  consuls  shall  receive  their  office  from  us,  in 
consuls  the  following  manner:  after  they  have  been 
elected  by  the  city  they  shall  be  invested  with  office  by  our 
representative  in  the  city  or  bishopric,  unless  we  are  ourselves 
in  Lombardy,  in  which  case  they  shall  be  invested  by  us.  At  the 
end  of  every  five  years  each  city  shall  send  its  representative  to 
us  to  receive  the  investiture. 

10.  This  arrangement  shall  be  observed  by  our  successor,  and 
all  such  investitures  shall  be  free. 

11.  After  our  death,  the  cities  shall  receive  investiture  in  the 
same  way  from  our  son  and  from  his  successors. 

12.  The  Emperor  shall  have  the  right  of  hearing  appeals  in 
cases  involving  more  than  25  pounds,  saving  the  right  of  the 
Appeals  to  church  of  Brescia  to  hear  appeals.  The  appel- 
the  Emperor  jant  ^u  not,  however,  be  compelled  to  come  to 
Germany,  but  he  shall  appeal  to  the  representative  of  the  Em- 
peror in  the  city  or  bishopric.    This  representative  shall  examine 

*The  consuls — often  twelve  in  number — were  the  chief  magistrates  of 
the  typical  Italian  commune. 

Med.  Hist— 26 


402  THE   EMPIRE   IN   THE   LATER   MIDDLE   AGES 

the  case  fairly  and  shall  give  judgment  according  to  the  laws  and 
customs  of  that  city.  The  decision  shall  be  given  within  two 
months  from  the  time  of  appeal,  unless  the  case  shall  have  been 
deferred  by  reason  of  some  legal  hindrance  or  by  the  consent  of 
both  parties. 

13.  The  consuls  of  cities  shall  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Emperor  before  they  are  invested  with  office. 

14.  Our  vassals  shall  receive  investiture  from  us  and  shall 
take  the  vassal's  oath  of  fidelity.  All  other  persons  between  the 
The  oath  ages  of  15  and  70  shall  take  the  ordinary  oath  of 
of  fidelity  fidelity  to  the  Emperor  unless  there  be  some  good 
reason  why  this  oath  should  be  omitted. 

17.  All  injuries,  losses,  and  damages  which  we  or  our  followers 
have  sustained  from  the  League,  or  any  of  its  members  or  allies, 
are  hereby  pardoned,  and  all  such  transgressors  are  hereby  re- 
ceived back  into  our  favor. 

18.  We  will  not  remain  longer  than  is  necessary  in  any  city 
or  bishopric. 

19.  It  shall  be  permitted  to  the  cities  to  erect  fortifications 
within  or  without  their  boundaries. 

_  .  .       '         20.    It  shall  be  permitted  to  the  League  to 

the  League's      maintain  its  organization  as  it  now  is,  or  to  re- 
new it  as  often  as  it  desires. 


71.  Current  Rumors  Concerning  the  Life  and  Character  of  Frederick  II. 

Frederick  II.  (1194-1250),  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily  and  emperor  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  was  a  son  of  Emperor  Henry  VI.  and  a  grand- 
son of  Frederick  Barbarossa.  When  his  father  died  (1197)  it  was  in- 
tended that  the  young  child's  uncle,  Philip  of  Hohenstaufen,  should 
occupy  the  imperial  throne  temporarily  as  regent.  Philip,  however, 
proceeded  to  assume  the  position  as  if  in  his  own  right  and  became  en- 
gaged in  a  deadly  conflict  with  a  rival  claimant,  Otto  IV.,  during  which 
the  Pope,  Innocent  III.,  fanned  the  flames  of  civil  war  and  made  the  situ- 
ation contribute  chiefly  to  the  aggrandizement  of  papal  authority  in  tem- 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   FREDERICK   II.  403 

poral  affairs.  In  1208  Philip  was  assassinated  and  in  the  following  year 
Otto  received  the  imperial  crown  at  Rome.  Almost  immediately,  how- 
ever, disagreement  broke  out  between  the  Pope  and  the  new  Emperor, 
chiefly  because  of  the  latter's  ambition  to  become  king  of  Sicily.  Re- 
penting that  he  had  befriended  Otto,  Innocent  promptly  excommuni- 
cated him  and  set  on  foot  a  movement — in  which  he  enlisted  the  services 
of  Philip  Augustus  of  France — to  supplant  the  obnoxious  Emperor  by 
Frederick  of  Sicily  (the  later  Frederick  II.).  Otto  was  a  nephew  of 
Richard  I.  and  John  of  England  and  the  latter  was  easily  persuaded  to 
enter  into  an  alliance  with  him  against  the  papal-French-Sicilian  com- 
bination. The  result  was  the  battle  of  Bouvines  [see  p.  297],  in  1214, 
in  which  John  and  Otto  were  hopelessly  defeated.  Meanwhile,  in  1212, 
Frederick  had  received  a  secret  embassy  from  Otto's  discontented  sub- 
jects in  Germany,  offering  him  the  imperial  crown  if  he  would  come  and 
claim  it.  In  response  he  had  gathered  an  army  and,  with  the  approval 
of  Innocent  and  of  Philip  Augustus,  had  crossed  the  Alps  for  the  pur- 
pose of  winning  over  the  German  people  from  Otto  to  himself.  The 
battle  of  Bouvines  (in  which  Frederick  was  not  engaged,  but  from  which 
he  profited  immensely)  was  the  death-blow  to  Otto's  cause  and  Frederick 
was  soon  recognized  universally  as  head  of  the  Empire. 

The  reign  of  Frederick  II.  (1212-1250)  was  a  period  of  large  importance 
in  European  history.  The  Emperor's  efforts  and  achievements— his 
crusade,  his  great  quarrel  with  Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV.,  his  legisla- 
tion, his  struggles  with  the  Lombard  League — were  full  of  interest  and 
significance,  but,  after  all,  not  more  so  than  the  purely  personal  aspects 
of  his  career.  Mr.  Bryce  has  a  passage  which  states  admirably  the  posi- 
tion of  Frederick  with  reference  to  his  age  and  its  problems.  A  portion 
of  it  is  as  follows:  "Out  of  the  long  array  of  the  Germanic  successors  of 
Charles  [Charlemagne],  he  is,  with  Otto  III.,1  the  only  one  who  comes 
before  us  with  a  genius  and  a  frame  of  character  that  are  not  those  of  a 
Northern  or  a  Teuton.  There  dwelt  in  him,  it  is  true,  all  the  energy 
and  knightly  valor  of  his  father  Henry  and  his  grandfather  Frederick  I. 
But  along  with  these,  and  changing  their  direction,  were  other  gifts, 
inherited  perhaps  from  his  half  Norman,  half  Italian  mother  and  fos- 

iOtto  III.,  emperor  983-1002.  Otto  is  noted  chiefly  for  his  visionary 
project  of  renewing  the  imperial  splendor  of  Rome  and  making  her  again 
the  capital  of  a  world-wide  empire. 


404  THE   EMPIRE   IN   THE   LATER  MIDDLE   AGES 

tered  by  his  education  in  Sicily,  where  Mussulman  and  Byzantine  in- 
fluences were  still  potent,  a  love  of  luxury  and  beauty,  an  intellect  re- 
fined, subtle,  philosophical.  Through  the  mist  of  calumny  and  legend 
it  is  but  dimly  that  the  truth  of  the  man  can  be  discerned,  and  the  out- 
lines that  appear  serve  to  quicken  rather  than  appease  the  curiosity 
with  which  we  regard  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  personages  in  his- 
tory. A  sensualist,  yet  also  a  warrior  and  a  politician ;  a  profound  law- 
giver and  an  impassioned  poet;  in  his  youth  fired  by  crusading  fervor, 
in  later  life  persecuting  heretics  while  himself  accused  of  blasphemy  and 
unbelief;  of  winning  manners  and  ardently  beloved  by  his  followers,  but 
with  the  stain  of  more  than  one  cruel  deed  upon  his  name,  he  was  the 
marvel  of  his  own  generation,  and  succeeding  ages  looked  back  with 
awe,  not  unmingled  with  pity,  upon  the  inscrutable  figure  of  the  last 
emperor  who  had  braved  all  the  terrors  of  the  Church  and  died  beneath 
her  ban,  the  last  who  had  ruled  from  the  sands  of  the  ocean  to  the  shores 
of  the  Ionian  Sea.  But  while  they  pitied  they  condemned.  The  un- 
dying hatred  of  the  papacy  threw  round  his  memory  a  lurid  light ;  him 
and  him  alone  of  all  the  imperial  line,  Dante,  the  worshipper  of  the 
empire,  must  perforce  deliver  to  the  flames  of  hell."1 

The  following  selections  from  the  Greater  Chronicle  of  Matthew 
Paris  comprise  some  of  the  stories  which  were  current  in  Frederick's 
day  regarding  his  manners,  ideas,  and  deeds.  Frederick  was  far  ahead 
of  his  age  and  it  was  inevitable  that  the  qualities  in  him  which  men  could 
not  understand  or  appreciate  should  become  the  grounds  for  dark 
rumors  and  unsavory  suspicions.  Matthew  Paris  was  an  English  monk 
of  St.  Albans.  It  is  thought  that  he  was  called  Parisiensis,  "the 
Parisian,"  because  of  having  been  born  or  educated  in  the  capital  of 
France.  He  seems  to  have  confined  his  attention  wholly  to  the  study  of 
history,  and  mainly  to  the  history  of  his  own  country.  His  Chronicle 
takes  up  the  story  of  English  and  continental  affairs  in  detail  with  the 
year  1235  (where  Roger  of  Wendover  had  stopped  in  his  Flowers  of 
History)  and  continues  to  the  year  1259.  His  book  has  been  described  as 
"probably  the  most  generally  useful  historical  production  of  the  thir- 
teenth century."  2 

i  James  Bryce,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  (new  ed.,  New  York,  1904), 
pp.  207-208.     For  the  reference  to  Dante  see  the  Inferno,  Canto  X. 

2  James  H.  Robinson,  Readings  in  European  History  (Boston,  1904),  Vol. 
I.,  p.  244. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OP  FREDERICK  II.  405 

Source — Matthaeus  Parisiensis,  Chronica  Majora  [Matthew  Paris,  "Greater 
Chronicle''].  Adapted  from  translation  by  J.  A.  Giles  (London, 
1852),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  157-158,  166-167,  169-170;  Vol.  II.,  pp.  84-85, 
103. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year  [1238]  the  fame  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  was  clouded  and  marred  by  his  jealous  enemies  and 
rivals;  for  it  was  imputed  to  him  that  he  was  wavering  in  the 
Catholic  faith,  or  wandering  from  the  right  way,  and  had  given 
F    d  r'ck  utterance  to  some  speeches,  from  which  it  could 

suspected  be  inferred  and  suspected  that  he  was  not  only 

weak  in  the  Catholic  faith,  but — what  was  a 
much  greater  and  more  serious  crime — that  there  was  in  him  an 
enormity  of  heresy,  and  the  most  dreadful  blasphemy,  to  be  de- 
tested and  execrated  by  all  Christians.  For  it  was  reported  that 
the  Emperor  Frederick  had  said  (although  it  may  not  be  proper 
to  mention  it)  that  three  imposters  had  so  craftily  deceived  their 
contemporaries  as  to  gain  for  themselves  the  mastery  of  the 
world:  these  were  Moses,  Jesus,  and  Mahomet  [Mohammed];  and 
that  he  had  impiously  given  expression  to  some  wicked  and  in- 
credible ravings  and  blasphemies  respecting  the  most  holy 
Eucharist.  Far  be  it  from  any  discreet  man,  much  less  a  Chris- 
tian, to  employ  his  tongue  in  such  raving  blasphemy.  It  was 
also  said  by  his  rivals  that  the  Emperor  agreed  with  and  believed  in 
the  law  of  Mahomet  more  than  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  A  rumor 
Accusation         also  crept  amongst  the  people  (which  God  forbid 

lation^with6"  to  ^e  true  °^  sucn  a  &reat  prince)  that  he  had 
the  Saracens  been  for  a  long  time  past  in  alliance  with  the 
Saracens,  and  was  more  friendly  to  them  than  to  the  Christians; 
and  his  rivals,  who  were  endeavoring  to  blacken  his  fame,  at- 
tempted to  establish  this  by  many  proofs.  Whether  they  sinned 
or  not,  He  alone  knows  who  is  ignorant  of  nothing.     .     .     . 

In  Lent,  of  the  same  year  [1239],  seeing  the  rash  proceed- 
ings of  the  Emperor,  and  that  his  words  pleaded  excuse  for  his 
sins, — namely,  that  by  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  nobles 
and  judges  of  Sardinia  he  had  taken  into  his  own  possession, 


406  THE    EMPIRE   IN   THE   LATER   MIDDLE   AGES 

and  still  held,  the  land  and  castles  of  the  bishop  of  Sardinia,  and 

constantly  declared  that  they  were  a  portion  of  the  Empire,  and 

that  he  by  his  first  and  chief  oath  would  preserve 

Frederick's 

seizure  of  the     the  rights  of  the  Empire  to  the  utmost  of  his 

lands  DeJ°.nff-  power,  and  would  also  collect  the  scattered  por- 
tions of  it, — the  Pope 1  was  excited  to  the  most 
violent  anger  against  him.  He  set  forth  some  very  serious  com- 
plaints and  claims  against  the  Emperor  and  wrote  often  boldly  and 
carefully  to  him,  advising  him  repeatedly  by  many  special  mes- 
sengers, whose  authority  ought  to  have  obtained  from  him  the 
greatest  attention,  to  restore  the  possessions  he  had  seized,  and  to 
desist  from  depriving  the  Church  of  her  possessions,  of  which  she 
was  endowed  by  long  prescription.  And,  like  a  skilful  physician, 
who  at  one  time  makes  use  of  medicines,  at  another  of  the  knife, 
and  at  another  of  the  cauterizing  instrument,  he  mixed  threats 
with  entreaties,  friendly  messages  with  fearful  denunciations. 
As  the  Emperor,  however,  scornfully  rejected  his  requests,  and 
Refusing  to  re-  excused  his  actions  by  arguments  founded  on 
is^elco^iini*  reason>  his  holiness  the  Pope,  on  Palm  Sunday, 
cated  in  the  presence  of  a  great  many  of  the  cardinals, 

in  the  spirit  of  glowing  anger,  solemnly  excommunicated  the 
said  Emperor  Frederick,  as  though  he  would  at  once  have  hurled 
him  from  his  imperial  dignity,  consigning  him  with  terrible 
denunciations  to  the  possession  of  Satan  at  his  death;  and,  as  it 
were,  thundering  forth  the  fury  of  his  anger,  he  excited  terror  in 
all  his  hearers.2     .     .     . 

The  Emperor,  on  hearing  of  this,  was  inflamed  with  violent 
anger,  and  with  oft-repeated  reproaches  accused  the  Church  and 
its  rulers  of  ingratitude  to  him,  and  of  returning  evil  for  good. 
He  recalled  to  their  recollection  how  he  had  exposed  himself  and 
his  property  to  the  billows  and  to  a  thousand  kinds  of  danger 

i  Gregory  IX.,  (1227-1241). 

2  Frederick  was  excommunicated  and  anathematized  on  sixteen  different 
charges,  which  the  Pope  carefully  enumerated.  All  who  were  bound  to  him 
by  oath  of  fealty  were  declared  to  be  absolved  from  their  allegiance. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF   FREDERICK  II.  407 

for  the  advancement  of  the  Church's  welfare  and  the  increase  of 
the  Catholic  faith,  and  affirmed  that  whatever  honors  the  Church 
possessed  in  the  Holy  Land  had  been  acquired  by  his  toil  and 
Frederick  ac-  industry.  "But,"  said  he,  "the  Pope,  jealous  at 
onnffratitude6  such  a  haPPy  increase  being  acquired  for  the 
and  jealousy  Church  by  a  layman,  and  who  desires  gold  and 
silver  rather  than  an  increase  of  the  faith  (as  witness  his  proceed- 
ings) ,  and  who  extorts  money  from  all  Christendom  in  the  name 
of  tithes,  has,  by  all  the  means  in  his  power,  done  his  best  to 
supplant  me,  and  has  endeavored  to  disinherit  me  while  fighting 
for  God,  exposing  my  body  to  the  weapons  of  war,  to  sickness, 
and  to  the  snares  of  his  enemies,  after  encountering  the  dangers 
of  the  unsparing  billows.  See  what  sort  of  protection  is  this  of 
our  father's!  What  kind  of  assistance  in  difficulties  is  this 
afforded  by  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  "!     .     .     -1 

"  Besides,  he  is  united  by  a  detestable  alliance  with  the  Sar- 
acens,— has  ofttimes  sent  messages  and  presents  to  them,  and 
in  turn  received  the  same  from  them  with  respect  and  alacrity 
.  .  . ;  and  what  is  a  more  execrable  offense,  he,  when  formerly 
in  the  country  beyond  sea,  made  a  kind  of  arrangement,  or  rather 
collusion,  with  the  sultan,  and  allowed  the  name  of  Mahomet 
to  be  publicly  proclaimed  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord  day  and 
Further  accu-  night;  and  lately,  in  the  case  of  the  sultan  of  Baby- 
anfancewlth  lon  [CairoL  who,  by  his  own  hands,  and  through  his 
the  Saracens  agents,  had  done  irreparable  mischief  and  injury 
to  the  Holy  Land  and  its  Christian  inhabitants,  he  caused  that 
sultan's  ambassadors,  in  compliment  to  their  master,  as  is  re- 
ported, to  be  honorably  received  and  nobly  entertained  in  his 
kingdom  of  Sicily.  He  also,  in  opposition  to  the  Christians, 
abuses  the  pernicious  and  horrid  rites  of  other  infidels,  and,  en- 
tering into  an  alliance  of  friendship  with  those  who  wickedly 
pay  little  respect  to  and  despise  the  Apostolic  See,  and  have 

1  At  the  Council  of  Lyons,  in  1245,  the  Emperor  was  again  excommunicated. 
The  ensuing  paragraph  comprises  a  portion  of  Pope  Innocent  IV.'s  denun- 
ciation of  him  upon  that  occasion. 


408  THE   EMPIRE  IN   THE   LATER  MIDDLE  AGES 

seceded  from  the  unity  of  the  Church,  he,  laying  aside  all  respect 
for  the  Christian  religion,  caused,  as  is  positively  asserted,  the 
duke  of  Bavaria,  of  illustrious  memory,  a  special  and  devoted 
ally  of  the  Roman  Church,  to  be  murdered  by  the  assassins.  He 
has  also  given  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Battacius,  an  enemy 
of  God  and  the  Church,  who,  together  with  his  aiders,  counsel- 
lors, and  abettors,  was  solemnly  expelled  from  the  communion 
of  the  Christians  by  sentence  of  excommunication.  Rejecting 
the  proceedings  and  customs  of  Catholic  princes,  neglecting 
his  own  salvation  and  the  purity  of  his  fame,  he  does  not  employ 
His  nee-lect  of  mmse^  m  works  of  piety;  and  what  is  more  (to 
pious  and  char-  be  silent  on  his  wicked  and  dissolute  practices) , 
although  he  has  learned  to  practice  oppression  to 
such  a  degree,  he  does  not  trouble  himself  to  relieve  those  op- 
pressed by  injuries,  by  extending  his  hand,  as  a  Christian  prince 
ought,  to  bestow  alms,  although  he  has  been  eagerly  aiming  at 
the  destruction  of  the  churches,  and  has  crushed  religious  men 
and  other  ecclesiastical  persons  with  the  burden  and  persecution 
of  his  yoke.  And  it  is  not  known  that  he  ever  built  or  founded 
either  churches,  monasteries,  hospitals,  or  other  pious  places. 
Now  these  are  not  light,  but  convincing,  grounds  for  suspicions 
of  heresy  being  entertained  against  him."     .     .     . 

When  the  Emperor  Frederick  was  made  fully  aware  of  all 
these  proceedings  [i.e.,  his  excommunication  at  Lyons]  he  could 
not  contain  himself,  but  burst  into  a  violent  rage  and,  darting  a 
scowling  look  on  those  who  sat  around  him,  he  thundered  forth: 
"The  Pope  in  his  synod  has  disgraced  me  by  depriving  me  of 
my  crown.  Whence  arises  such  great  audacity?  Whence  pro- 
ceeds such  rash  presumption?  Where  are  my  chests  which 
Frederick's  contain  my  treasures?"  And  on  their  being 
excommuiX-  bought  and  unlocked  before  him,  by  his  order, 
cation  he  said,  "See  if  my  crowns  are  lost  now;"  then 

finding  one,  he  placed  it  on  his  head  and,  being  thus  crowned, 
he  stood  up,  and,  with  threatening  eyes  and  a  dreadful  voice,  un- 


THE  GOLDEN  BULL  OF  CHARLES  IV.  409 

restrainable  from  passion,  he  said  aloud,  "  I  have  not  yet  lost  my 
crown,  nor  will  I  be  deprived  of  it  by  any  attacks  of  the  Pope 
or  the  council,  without  a  bloody  struggle.  Does  his  vulgar  pride 
raise  him  to  such  heights  as  to  enable  him  to  hurl  from  the 
imperial  dignity  me,  the  chief  prince  of  the  world,  than  whom 
none  is  greater — yea,  who  am  without  an  equal?  In  this  matter 
my  condition  is  made  better:  in  some  things  I  was  bound  to 
obey,  at  least  to  respect,  him;  but  now  I  am  released  from  all 
ties  of  affection  and  veneration,  and  also  from  the  obligation  of 
any  kind  of  peace  with  him."  From  that  time  forth,  therefore, 
he,  in  order  to  injure  the  Pope  more  effectually  and  perseveringly, 
did  all  kinds  of  harm  to  his  Holiness,  in  his  money,  as  well  as  in 
his  friends  and  relatives. 

72.   The  Golden  Bull  of  Charles  IV.  (1356) 

The  century  following  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  (1250)  was  a  period 
of  unrest  and  turbulence  in  German  history,  the  net  result  of  which 
politically  was  the  almost  complete  triumph  of  the  princes,  lay  and  cleri- 
cal, over  the  imperial  power.  By  1350  the  local  magnates  had  come  to 
be  virtually  sovereign  throughout  their  own  territories.  They  enjoyed 
the  right  of  legislation  and  the  privileges  of  coining  money  and  levying 
taxes,  and  in  many  cases  they  had  scarcely  so  much  as  a  feudal  bond  to 
remind  them  of  their  theoretical  allegiance  to  the  Empire.  The  one  prin- 
ciple of  action  upon  which  they  could  agree  was  that  the  central  mon- 
archy should  be  kept  permanently  in  the  state  of  helplessness  to  which 
it  had  been  reduced.  The  power  of  choosing  a  successor  when  a  vacancy 
arose  in  the  imperial  office  had  fallen  gradually  into  the  hands  of  seven 
men,  who  were  known  as  the  "electors"  and  who  were  recognized  in  the 
fourteenth  century  as  possessing  collective  importance  far  greater  than 
that  of  the  emperor.  Three  of  these  seven — the  archbishops  of  Mainz, 
Trier,  and  Cologne — were  great  ecclesiastics;  the  other  four — the  king 
of  Bohemia,  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  and  the 
count  palatine  of  the  Rhine — were  equally  influential  laymen.  This 
electoral  college  first  came  into  prominence  at  the  election  of  Rudolph  I. 
(of  the  House  of  Hapsburg)  at  the  end  of  the  Interregnum  in  1273. 


410       THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  LATER  MIDDLE  AGES 

From  that  time  until  the  termination  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in  1806 
these  seven  men  (eight  after  1648  and  nine  after  1692)  played  a  part  in 
German  history  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  emperors.  They  imposed 
upon  their  candidates  such  conditions  as  they  chose,  and  when  the  bearer 
of  the  imperial  title  grew  restive  and  difficult  to  control  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  make  war  upon  him,  or  even  in  extreme  cases  to  depose  him. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  never  in  all  history  have  worse  scandals  been 
connected  with  any  sort  of  elections  than  were  associated  repeatedly 
with  the  actions  of  these  German  electors. 

The  central  document  in  German  constitutional  history  in  the  Middle 
Ages  is  the  Golden  Bull  of  Emperor  Charles  IV.  (1347-1378),  promulgated 
in  1356.  For  a  century  prior  to  the  reign  of  Charles  the  question  of  the 
imperial  succession  had  been  one  of  extreme  perplexity.  The  electoral 
college  had  grown  up  to  assume  the  responsibility,  but  this  body  rested 
on  no  solid  legal  basis  and  its  acts  were  usually  regarded  as  null  by  all 
whom  they  displeased,  with  the  result  that  a  civil  war  succeeded  pretty 
nearly  every  election.  Charles  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  the  exist- 
ing system  could  not  be  set  aside ;  the  electors  were  entirely  too  power- 
ful to  permit  of  that.  But  he  also  saw  that  it  might  at  least  be  im- 
proved by  giving  it  the  quality  of  legality  which  it  had  hitherto  lacked. 
The  result  of  his  efforts  in  this  direction  was  the  Golden  Bull,  issued  and 
confirmed  at  the  diets  of  Nurnberg  (Nuremberg)  and  Metz  in  1356. 
The  document,  thenceforth  regarded  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
Empire,  dealt  with  a  wide  variety  of  subjects.  It  confirmed  the  elector- 
ship in  the  person  of  the  king  of  Bohemia  which  had  long  been  disputed 
by  a  rival  branch  of  the  family ; 1  it  made  elaborate  provision  for  the  elec- 
tion of  the  emperor  by  the  seven  magnates;  it  denned  the  social  and 
political  prerogatives  of  these  men  and  prescribed  the  relations  which 
they  should  bear  to  their  subjects,  to  other  princes,  and  to  the  emperor ; 
and  it  made  numerous  regulations  regarding  conspiracies,  coinage,  im- 
munities, the  forfeiture  of  fiefs,  the  succession  of  electoral  princes,  etc. 
In  a  word,  as  Mr.  Bryce  has  put  it,  the  document  "  confessed  and  legal- 
ized the  independence  of  the  Electors  and  the  powerlcssness  of  the 
crown."2  Only  a  few  selections  from  it  can  be  given  here,  particularly 
those  bearing  on  the  methods  of  electing  the  emperor. 

1  Charles  IV.  was  himself  king  of  Bohemia,  so  (hat  for  the  present  the 
Emperor  was  also  one  of  the  seven  imperial  electors. 

2  James  Bryce,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  (new  ed.,  New  York,  1904),  p.  234. 


THE  GOLDEN  BULL  OF  CHARLES  IV.  411 

Source — Text  in  Wilhelm  Altmann  und  Ernst  Bernheim,  Ausgewdhlte 
Urkunden  zur  Erlduterung  der  Verfassungsgeschichte  Deutschlands 
im  Mittelalter  ["Select  Documents  Illustrative  of  the  Constitu- 
tional History  of  Germany  in  the  Middle  Ages"],  3rd  ed.,  Berlin, 
1904,  pp.  54-83.  Adapted  from  translation  in  Oliver  J.  Thatcher 
and  Edgar  H.  McNeal,  Source  Book  for  Mediceval  History  (New 
York,  1905),  pp.  284-295  passim. 

1.  1.  We  decree  and  determine  by  this  imperial  edict  that, 
whenever  the  electoral  princes  are  summoned  according  to  the 
ancient  and  praiseworthy  custom  to  meet  and  elect  a  king  of 
the  Romans  and  future  emperor,  each  one  of  them  shall  be  bound 
Guarantee  to  furnish  on  demand  an  escort  and  safe-conduct 
trav^iefor°the  to  n^s  ^ow  electors  or  their  representatives, 
electors  within  his  own  lands  and  as  much  farther  as  he 
can,  for  the  journey  to  and  from  the  city  where  the  election  is 
to  be  held.  Any  electoral  prince  who  refuses  to  furnish  escort 
and  safe-conduct  shall  be  liable  to  the  penalties  for  perjury  and 
to  the  loss  of  his  electoral  vote  for  that  occasion. 

2.  We  decree  and  command  also  that  all  other  princes  who 
hold  fiefs  from  the  Empire,  by  whatever  title,  and  all  counts, 
barons,  knights,  clients,  nobles,  commoners,  citizens,  and  all 
corporations  of  towns,  cities,  and  territories  of  the  Empire,  shall 
furnish  escort  and  safe-conduct  for  this  occasion  to  every  elec- 
toral prince  or  his  representatives,  on  demand,  within  their  own 
lands  and  as  much  farther  as  they  can.  Violators  of  this  decree 
shall  be  punished  as  follows:  princes,  counts,  barons,  knights, 
Penalties  for  clients,  and  all  others  of  noble  rank,  shall  suffer 
saie^conductS  the  Penalties  of  perjury,  and  shall  lose  the  fiefs 
the  electors  which  they  hold  of  the  emperor  or  any  other  lord, 
and  all  their  possessions;  citizens  and  corporations  shall  also 
suffer  the  penalty  for  perjury,  shall  be  deprived  of  all  the  rights, 
liberties,  privileges,  and  graces  which  they  have  received  from 
the  Empire,  and  shall  incur  the  ban  of  the  Empire  against  their 
persons  and  property.  Those  whom  we  deprive  of  their  rights 
for  this  offense  may  be  attacked  by  any  man  without  appealing 
to  a  magistrate,  and  without  danger  of  reprisal;  for  they  are  rebels 


412  THE   EMPIRE   IN   THE    LATER   MIDDLE    AGES 

against  the  state  and  the  Empire,  and  have  attacked  the  honor 
and  security  of  the  prince,  and  are  convicted  of  faithlessness  and 
perfidy. 

3.  We  also  command  that  the  citizens  and  corporations  of 
cities  shall  furnish  supplies  to  the  electoral  princes  and  their 
Supplies  for  representatives  on  demand  at  the  regular  price  and 
the  use  of  the  without  fraud,  whenever  they  arrive  at,  or  depart 
from,  the  city  on  their  way  to  or  from  the  elec- 
tion. Those  who  violate  this  decree  shall  suffer  the  penalties 
described  in  the  preceding  paragraph  for  citizens  and  corpora- 
tions. If  any  prince,  count,  baron,  knight,  client,  noble,  com- 
moner, citizen,  or  city  shall  attack  or  molest  in  person  or  goods 
any  of  the  electoral  princes  or  their  representatives,  on  their  way 
to  or  from  an  election,  whether  they  have  safe-conduct  or  not, 
he  and  his  accomplices  shall  incur  the  penalties  above  described, 
according  to  his  position  and  rank. 

16.  When  the  news  of  the  death  of  the  king  of  the  Romans 

has  been  received  at  Mainz,  within  one  month  from  the  date  of 

The  electors       receiving  it  the  archbishop  of  Mainz  shall  send 

to  be  sum-  notices  of  the  death  and  the  approaching  election 

moned  by  the 

archbishop  to  all  the  electoral   princes.     But   if  the  arch- 

o       ainz  bishop  neglects  or  refuses  to  send  such  notices, 

the  electoral  princes  are  commanded  on  their  fidelity  to  as- 
semble on  their  own  motion  and  without  summons  at  the  city 
of  Frankfort,1  within  three  months  from  the  death  of  the  em- 
peror, for  the  purpose  of  electing  a  king  of  the  Romans  and 
future  emperor. 

17.  Each  electoral  prince  or  his  representatives  may  bring 
with  him  to  Frankfort  at  the  time  of  the  election  a  retinue  of 
200  horsemen,  of  whom  not  more  than  50  shall  be  armed. 


1  Frankfort  lay  on  the  river  Main,  a  short  distance  east  of  Mainz.  "It 
was  fixed  as  the  place  of  election,  as  a  tradition  dating  from  East  Frankish 
days  preserved  the  feeling  that  both  election  and  coronation  ought  to  take 
place  on  Frankish  soil." — James  Bryce,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  (newed., 
New  York,  1904),  p.  243. 


THE  GOLDEN  BULL  OF  CHARLES  IV.  413 

18.  If  any  electoral  prince,  duly  summoned  to  the  election, 
fails  to  come,  or  to  send  representatives  with  credentials  con- 
„  taining  full  authority,  or  if.  he  (or  his  representa- 

might  be  for-      tives)  withdraws  from  the  place  of  the  election 
before  the  election  has  been  completed,  without 
leaving  behind  substitutes  fully  accredited  and  empowered,  he 
shall  lose  his  vote  in  that  election. 

II.  2.1  "I,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  archchancellor  of  the  Empire 
for  Germany,2  electoral  prince,  swear  on  the  holy  gospels  here 
before  me,  and  by  the  faith  which  I  owe  to  God  and  to  the  Holy 
The  oath  taken  Roman  Empire,  that  with  the  aid  of  God,  and 
by  the  electors  according  to  my  best  judgment  and  knowledge, 
I  will  cast  my  vote,  in  this  election  of  the  king  of  the  Romans 
and  future  emperor,  for  a  person  fitted  to  rule  the  Christian 
people.  I  will  give  my  voice  and  vote  freely,  uninfluenced  by 
any  agreement,  price,  bribe,  promise,  or  anything  of  the  sort, 
by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called.  So  help  me  God  and  all 
the  saints." 

3.  After  the  electors  have  taken  this  oath,  they  shall  proceed 
to  the  election,  and  shall  not  depart  from  Frankfort  until  the 
_      .  .  majority  have  elected  a  king  of  the  Romans  and 

to  ensure  future  emperor,  to  be  ruler  of  the  world  and  of 

the  Christian  people.  If  they  have  not  come  to  a 
decision  within  thirty  days  from  the  day  on  which  they  took 
the  above  oath,  after  that  they  shall  live  upon  bread  and  water 
and  shall  not  leave  the  city  until  the  election  has  been  decided. 

III.  1.  To  prevent  any  dispute  arising  between  the  arch- 
bishops of  Trier,  Mainz,  and  Cologne,  electoral  princes  of  the 


1  The  preceding  section  specifies  that  Mass  should  be  celebrated  the  day 
following  the  arrival  of  the  electors  at  Frankfort,  and  that  the  archbishop 
of  Mainz  should  administer  to  his  six  colleagues  the  oath  which  he  himself 
has  taken,  as  specified  in  section  2. 

2  The  three  archbishops  were  "  archchancellors ' '  of  the  Empire  for  Ger- 
many, Gaul  and  Burgundy,  and  Italy  respectively.  The  king  of  Bohemia 
was  designated  as  cupbearer,  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg  as  chamberlain, 
the  count  palatine  as  seneschal,  and  the  duke  of  Saxony  as  marshal. 


414  THE   EMPIRE   IN   THE    LATER    MIDDLE   AGES 

Empire,  as  to  their  priority  and  rank  in  the  diet,1  it  has  been  de- 
cided and  is  hereby  decreed,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  all 
the  electoral  princes,  ecclesiastical  and  secular,  that  the  arch- 
bishop of  Trier  shall  have  the  seat  directly  opposite  and  facing  the 
Order  of  prece-  emperor;  that  the  archbishop  of  Mainz  shall  have 
three6 arch-6  ^he  sea^  a^  ^ne  right  of  the  emperor  when  the  diet 
bishops  is  held  in  the  diocese  or  province  of  Mainz,  or 

anywhere  in  Germany  except  in  the  diocese  of  Cologne;  that  the 
archbishop  of  Cologne  shall  have  the  seat  at  the  right  of  the 
emperor  when  the  diet  is  held  in  the  diocese  or  province  of 
Cologne,  or  anywhere  in  Gaul  or  Italy.  This  applies  to  all  public 
ceremonies — court  sessions,  conferring  of  fiefs,  banquets,  coun- 
cils, and  all  occasions  on  which  the  princes  meet  with  the  em- 
peror for  the  transaction  of  imperial  business.  This  order  of 
seating  shall  be  observed  by  the  successors  of  the  present  arch- 
bishops of  Cologne,  Trier,  and  Mainz,  and  shall  never  be  ques- 
tioned. 

IV.  1.  In  the  imperial  diet,  at  the  council-board,  table,  and 
all  other  places  where  the  emperor  or  king  of  the  Romans  meets 
with  the  electoral  princes,  the  seats  shall  be  arranged  as  follows: 
g      .  On  the  right  of  the  emperor,  first,  the  archbishop 

arrangement  of  Mainz,  or  of  Cologne,  according  to  the  province 
in  which  the  meeting  is  held,  as  arranged -above; 
second,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  because  he  is  a  crowned  and 
anointed  prince;  third,  the  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine;  on  the 
left  of  the  emperor,  first,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  or  of  Mainz; 
second,  the  duke  of  Saxony;  third,  the  margrave  of  Branden- 
burg. 

2.    When  the  imperial  throne  becomes  vacant,  the  archbishop 

of  Mainz  shall  have  the  authority,  which  he  has  had  from  of  old, 

to  call  the  other  electors  together  for  the  election.     It  shall  be 

his  peculiar  right  also,  when  the  electors  have  convened  for  the 

1  The  diet  was  the  Empire's  nearest  approach  to  a  national  assembly.  It 
was  made  up  of  three  orders — the  electors,  the  princes,  and  the  representa- 
tives of  the  cities. 


THE  GOLDEN  BULL  OF  CHARLES  IV.         415 

election,  to  collect  the  votes,  asking  each  of  the  electors  sepa- 
rately in  the  following  order:  first,  the  archbishop  of  Trier,  who 
shall  have  the  right?  to  the  first  vote,  as  he  has  had  from  of  old; 
The  order  then  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  who  has  the  office 

of  voting  Q£  nrst  piacing  the  crown  upon  the  head  of  the 

king  of  the  Romans;  then  the  king  of  Bohemia,  who  has  the  prior- 
ity among  the  secular  princes  because  of  his  royal  title;  fourth, 
the  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine;  fifth,  the  duke  of  Saxony; 
sixth,  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg.  Then  the  princes  shall  ask 
the  archbishop  of  Mainz  in  turn  to  declare  his  choice  and  vote. 
At  the  diet,  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg  shall  offer  water  to 
the  emperor  or  king,  to  wash  his  hands;  the  king  of  Bohemia 
shall  have  the  right  to  offer  him  the  cup  first,  although,  by  rea- 
son of  his  royal  dignity,  he  shall  not  be  bound  to  do  this  unless 
he  desires;  the  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine  shall  offer  him  food; 
and  the  duke  of  Saxony  shall  act  as  his  marshal  in  the  accustomed 
manner. 

XI.  1.  We  decree  also  that  no  count,  baron,  noble,  vassal, 
burggrave,1  knight,  client,  citizen,  burgher,  or  other  subject  of 
the  churches  of  Cologne,  Mainz,  or  Trier,  of  whatever  status, 
condition,  or  rank,  shall  be  cited,  haled,  or  summoned  to  any 
authority  before  any  tribunal  outside  of  the  territories,  bound- 
aries, and  limits  of  these  churches  and  their  dependencies,  or 
before  any  judge,  except  the  archbishop  and  their  judges.  .  .  . 
We  refuse  to  hear  appeals  based  upon  the  authority  of  others 
Judicial  over  the  subjects  of  these  princes ;  if  these  princes 

privileges  of       are  accused  by  their  subjects  of  injustice,   ap- 

trie  electors 

confirmed  and    peal  shall  lie  to  the  imperial  diet,  and  shall  be 

en  arge  heard  there  and  nowhere  else. 

2.   We  extend  this  right  by  the  present  law  to  the  secular 

electoral  princes,  the  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  duke  of 

Saxony,  and  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and  to  their  heirs, 

successors,  and  subjects  forever. 

1  An  official  representative  of  a  king  or  overlord  in  a  city. 


416  THE   EMPIRE   IN   THE   LATER  MIDDLE  AGES 

XII.  1.  It  has  been  decided  in  the"  general  diet  held  at  Nurn- 
berg  *  with  the  electoral  princes,  ecclesiastical  and  secular,  and 
other  princes  and  magnates,  by  their  advice  and  with  their  con- 
sent, that  in  the  future,  the  electoral  princes  shall  meet  every 
The  electors  to  year  m  some  city  of  the  Empire  four  weeks  after 
meet  annually  Easter.  This  year  they  are  to  meet  at  that  date 
in  the  imperial  city  of  Metz.2  On  that  occasion,  and  on  every 
meeting  thereafter,  the  place  of  assembling  for  the  following 
year  shall  be  fixed  by  us,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
princes.  This  ordinance  shall  remain  in  force  as  long  as  it  shall 
be  pleasing  to  us  and  to  the  princes;  and  as  long  as  it  is  in  effect, 
we  shall  furnish  the  princes  with  safe-conduct  for  that  assembly, 
going,  staying,  and  returning. 

1  Nurnberg  (or  Nuremberg)  is  situated  in  Bavaria,  in  south  central  Ger- 
many. 

2  Metz  lay  on  the  Moselle,  above  Trier.  Apparently  this  clause  providing 
for  a  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  electors  was  inserted  by  Charles  in  the 
hope  that  he  might  be  able  to  make  use  of  the  body  as  an  advisory  council  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Empire.  The  provision  remained  a  dead  letter,  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  electors  were  indifferent  to  the  Emperor's  purposes  in  the  matter. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 
THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

Our  chief  contemporary  source  of  information  on  the  history  of  the 
Hundred  Years'  War  is  Jean  Froissart 's  Chronicles  of  England,  France, 
and  the  Adjoining  Countries,  from  the  Latter  Part  of  the  Reign  of  Edward  II. 
to  the  Coronation  of  Henry  IV .,x  and  it  is  from  this  important  work  that 
all  of  the  extracts  (except  texts  of  treaties)  which  are  included  in  this 
chapter  have  been  selected.  Froissart  was  a  French  poet  and  historian, 
born  at  Beaumont,  near  Valenciennes  in  Hainault,  in  1337,  when  the 
Hundred  Years'  War  was  just  beginning.  He  lived  until  the  early  part 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  1410  being  one  of  the  conjectural  dates  of  his 
death.  He  was  a  man  of  keen  mental  faculties  and  had  enjoyed  the  ad- 
vantages of  an  unusually  thorough  education  during  boyhood.  This 
native  ability  and  training,  together  with  his  active  public  life  and  ad- 
mirable opportunities  for  observation,  constituted  his  special  qualification 
for  the  writing  of  a  history  of  his  times.  Froissart  represents  a  type  of 
mediaeval  chronicler  which  was  quite  rare,  in  that  he  was  not  a  monk 
living  in  seclusion  but  a  practical  man  of  affairs,  accustomed  to  travel 
and  interco  ^rse  with  leading  men  in  all  the  important  countries  of  west- 
ern Europe.  He  lived  for  five  years  at  the  English  court  as  clerk  of  the 
Queen's  Chamber;  many  times  he  was  sent,  by  the  French  king  on  diplo- 
matic missions  to  Scotland,  Italy,  and  other  countries;  and  he  made 
several  private  trips  to  various  parts  of  Europe  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
acquiring  information.  Always  and  everywhere  he  was  observant  and 
quick  to  take  advantage  of  opportunities  to  ascertain  facts  which  he 
could  use,  and  we  are  told  that  after  it  came  to  be  generally  known  that  he 
was  preparing  to  write  an  extended  history  of  his  times  not  a  few  kings 
and  princes  took  pains  to  send  him  details  regarding  events  which  they 
desired  to  have  recorded.    The  writing  of  the  Chronicles  was  a  life  work. 

1  This  is  the  title  employed  by  Thomas  Johnes  in  his  translation  of  the 
work  a  hundred  years  ago.  Froissart  himself  called  his  book,  in  the  French 
of  his  day,  Chroniques  de  France,  d'Engleterre,  d'Escoce,  de  Bretaigne,  d'Es- 
paigne,  d'ltalie,  de  Flandres  et  d'Alemaigne. 

Med.  Hist.— 27  417 


418  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS7    WAR 

When  only  twenty  years  of  age  Froissart  submitted  to  Isabella,  wife  of 
King  Edward  III.  of  England,  an  account  of  the  battle  of  Poitiers,  in 
which  the  queen's  son,  the  famous  Black  Prince,  had  won  distinction  in 
the  previous  year.  Thereafter  the  larger  history  was  published  book  by 
book,  until  by  1373  it  was  complete  to  date.  Subsequently  it  was  ex- 
tended to  the  year  1400  (it  had  begun  with  the  events  of  1326),  while 
the  earlier  portions  were  rewritten  and  considerably  revised.  And,  in- 
deed, when  death  came  to  the  author  he  was  still  working  at  his  arduous 
but  congenial  task.  "As  long  as  I  live,''  he  wrote  upon  one  occasion, 
"by  the  grace  of  God  I  shall  continue  it;  for  the  more  I  follow  it  and 
labor  thereon,  the  more  it  pleases  me.  Even  as  a  gentle  knight  or  es- 
quire who  loves  arms,  while  persevering  and  continuing  develops  him- 
self therein,  thus  do  I,  laboring  and  striving  with  this  matter,  improve 
and  delight  myself." 

The  Chronicles  as  they  have  come  down  to  us  are  written  in  a  lively 
and  pleasing  style.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  they  are  not  wholly 
accurate ;  indeed,  on  the  whole,  they  are  quite  inaccurate,  measured  even 
by  mediaeval  standards.  Froissart  was  obliged  to  rely  for  a  large  portion 
of  his  information  upon  older  chronicles  and  especially  upon  conversa- 
tions and  interviews  with  people  in  various  parts  of  Europe.  Such 
sources  are  never  wholly  trustworthy  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  our 
author  was  not  as  careful  to  sift  error  from  truth  as  he  should  have 
been.  His  credulity  betrayed  him  often  into  accepting  what  a  little 
investigation  would  have  shown  to  be  false,  and  only  very  rarely  did  he 
make  any  attempt,  as  a  modern  historian  would  do,  to  increase  and 
verify  his  knowledge  by  a  study  of  documents.  Still,  the  Chronicles 
constitute  an  invaluable  history  of  the  period  they  cover.  The  facts 
they  record,  the  events  they  explain,  the  vivid  descriptions  they  con- 
tain, and  the  side-lights  they  throw  upon  the  life  and  manners  of  an 
interesting  age  unite  to  give  them  a  place  of  peculiar  importance  among 
works  of  their  kind.  And,  wholly  aside  from  their  historical  value,  they 
constitute  one  of  the  monuments  of  mediaeval  French  literature. 


73.  An  Occasion  of  War  between  the  Kings  of  England  and  France 

The  causes,  general  and  specific,  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War  were 
numerous.    The  most  important  were:  (1)  The  long-standing  bad  feeling 


THE   DISPUTED   SUCCESSION   IN   FRANCE  419 

between  the  French  and  English  regarding  the  possession  of  Normandy 
and  Guienne.  England  had  lost  the  former  to  France  and  she  had  never 
ceased  to  hope  for  its  recovery;  on  the  other  hand,  the  French  were 
resolved  upon  the  eventual  conquest  of  the  remaining  English  conti- 
nental possession  of  Guienne  and  were  constantly  asserting  themselves 
there  in  a  fashion  highly  irritating  to  the  English ;  (2)  the  assistance  and 
general  encouragement  given  the  rebellious  Scots  by  the  French;  (3) 
the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  the  English  crown  by  the  popular 
party  in  Flanders  to  claim  the  French  throne  and  to  resort -to  war  to 
obtain  it.  The  Flemish  wool  trade  was  a  very  important  item  in  Eng- 
land's economic  prosperity  and  it  was  felt  to  be  essential  at  all  hazards 
to  prevent  the  extension  of  French  influence  in  Flanders,  which  would 
inevitably  mean  the  checking,  if  not  the  ruin,  of  the  commercial  relations 
of  the  Flemish  and  the  English;  and  (4)  the  claim  to  the  throne  of  France 
which  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  set  up  and  prepared  to  defend.  It 
is  this  last  occasion  of  war  that  Froissart  describes  in  the  passage  below. 

Source — Text  in  Simeon  Luce  (ed.),  Chroniques  de  Jean  Froissart  [published 
for  the  Societe*  de  l'Histoirede  France],  Paris,  1869,  Chap.  I. 
Translated  in  Thomas  Johnes,  Froissart's  Chronicles  (London, 
1803),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  6-7. 

History  tells  us  that  Philip,  king  of  France,  surnamed  the 
Fair,1  had  three  sons,  besides  his  beautiful  daughter  Isabella, 
married  to  the  king  of  England.2  These  three  sons  were  very 
handsome.  The  eldest,  Louis,  king  of  Navarre,  during  the  life- 
time of  his  father,  was  called  Louis  Hutin;  the  second  was  named 
Philip  the  Great,  or  the  Long;  and  the  third,  Charles.  All  these 
were  kings  of  France,  after  their  father  Philip,  by  legitimate 
succession,  one  after  the  other,  without  having  by  marriage  any 
male  heirs.3  Yet  on  the  death  of  the  last  king,  Charles,  the 
twelve  peers  and  barons  of  France  4  did  not  give  the  kingdom 

1  Philip  IV.,  king  of  France,  1285-1314. 

2  Isabella  was  the  wife  of  Edward  II.,  who  reigned  in  England  from  1307 
until  his  deposition  in  1327. 

3  Louis  X.  (the  Quarrelsome)  reigned  1314-1316;  Philip  V.  (the  Long), 
1316-1322;  and  Charles  IV.  (the  Fair),  1322-1328.  Louis  and  Charles  were 
very  weak  kings,  though  Philip  was  vigorous  and  able. 

4  The  French  Court  of  Twelve  Peers  did  not  constitute  a  distinct  organiza- 
tion, but  was  merely  a  high  rank  of  baronage.     In  the  earlier  Middle  Ages, 


420  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

to  Isabella,  the  sister,  who  was  queen  of  England,  because  they 
said  and  maintained,  and  still  insist,  that  the  kingdom  of 
The  succession  France  is  so  noble  that  it  ought  not  to  go  to  a 
to  the  French  woman;  consequently  neither  to  Isabella  nor  to 
her  son/the  king  of  England;  for  they  held  that 
the  son  of  a  woman  cannot  claim  any  right  of  succession  where 
that  woman  has  none  herself.1  For  these  reasons  the  twelve 
peers  and  barons  of  France  unanimously  gave  the  kingdom  of 
France  to  the  lord  Philip  of  Valois,  nephew  of  King  Philip,2  and 
thus  put  aside  the  queen  of  England  (who  was  sister  to  Charles, 
the  late  king  of  France)  and  her  son.  Thus,  as  it  seemed  to 
many  people,  the  succession  went  out  of  the  right  line,  which  has 
been  the  occasion  of  the  most  destructive  wars  and  devastations 
of  countries,  as  well  in  France  as  elsewhere,  as  you  will  learn 

the  number  of  peers  was  generally  twelve,  including  the  most  powerful  lay 
vassals  of  the  king  and  certain  influential  prelates.  In  later  times  the  num- 
ber was  frequently  increased  by  the  creation  of  peers  by  the  crown. 

i  In  1317,  after  the  accession  of  Philip  IV.,  an  assembly  of  French  mag- 
nates (such  as  that  which  disposed  of  the  crown  in  1328)  laid  down  the 
general  rule  that  no  woman  should  succeed  to  the  throne  of  France.  This 
rule  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  Salic  Law  of  France,  though  it  has  no 
historical  connection  with  the  law  of  the  Salian  Franks  against  female  in- 
heritance of  property,  with  which  older  writers  have  generally  confused  it 
[see  p.  67,  note  1],  The  rule  of  1317  was  based  purely  on  grounds  of  political 
expediency.  It  was  announced  at  this  particular  time  because  the  death  of 
Louis  X.  had  left  France  without  a  male  heir  to  the  throne  for  the  first  time 
since  Hugh  Capet's  day  and  the  barons  thought  it  not  best  for  the  realm  that 
a  woman  reign  over  it.  Between  1316  and  1328  daughters  of  kings  were 
excluded  from  the  succession  three  times,  and  though  in  1328,  when  Charles 
IV.  died,  there  had  been  no  farther  legislation  on  the  subject,  the  principle  of 
the  misnamed  Salic  Law  had  become  firmly  established  in  practice.  In 
1328,  however,  when  the  barons  selected  Philip  of  Valois  to  be  regent  first 
and  then  king,  they  went  a  step  farther  and  declared  not  only  that  no 
woman  should  be  allowed  to  inherit  the  throne  of  France  but  that  the  in- 
heritance could  not  pass  through  a  woman  to  her  son;  in  other  words,  she 
could  not  transmit  to  her  descendants  a  right  which  she  did  not  herself 
possess.  This  was  intended  to  cover  any  future  case  such  as  that  of  Edward 
III.'s  claim  to  inherit  through  his  mother  Isabella,  daughter  of  Philip  IV. 
The  action  of  the  barons  was  supported  by  public  opinion  in  practically  all 
France — especially  since  it  appeared  that  only  through  this  expedient  could 
the  realm  be  saved  from  the  domination  of  an  alien  sovereign. 

2  Philip  of  Valois  was  a  son  of  Charles  of  Valois,  who  was  a  brother  of 
Philip  IV.  The  line  of  direct  Capetian  descent  was  now  replaced  by  the 
branch  line  of  the  Valois.  The  latter  occupied  the  French  throne  until  the 
death  of  Henry  III.  in  1589. 


EDWARD  III.  ASSUMES  THE  TITLE  "  KING  OF  FRANCE  "        421 

hereafter;  the  real  object  of  this  history  being  to  relate  the  great 
enterprises  and  deeds  of  arms  achieved  in  these  wars,  for  from 
the  time  of  good  Charlemagne,  king  of  France,  never  were  such 
feats  performed. 

74.    Edward  III.  Assumes  the  Arms  and  Title  of  the  King  of  France 

Due  to  causes  which  have  been  mentioned,  the  relations  of  England 
and  France  at  the  accession  of  Philip  VI.  in  1328  were  so  strained  that 
only  a  slight  fanning  of  the  flames  was  necessary  to  bring  on  an  open 
conflict.  Edward  III.'s  persistent  demand  to  be  recognized  as  king  of 
France  sufficed  to  accomplish  this  result.  The  war  did  not  come  at  once, 
for  neither  king  felt  himself  ready  for  it ;  but  it  was  inevitable  and  prepa- 
rations for  it  were  steadily  pushed  on  both  sides  from  1328  until  its  for- 
mal declaration  by  Edward  nine  years  later.  These  preparations  were 
not  merely  military  and  naval  but  also  diplomatic.  The  primary  object 
of  both  sovereigns  was  to  secure  as  many  and  as  strong  foreign  alliances 
as  possible.  In  pursuit  of  this  policy  Philip  soon  assured  himself  of  the 
support  of  Louis  de  Nevers,  count  of  Flanders,  King  John  of  Bohemia, 
Alphonso  XI.  of  Castile,  and  a  number  of  lesser  princes  of  the  north. 
Edward  was  even  more  successful.  In  Spain  and  the  Scandinavian 
countries  many  local  powers  allied  themselves  with  him;  in  the  Low 
Countries,  especially  Flanders  and  Brabant,  the  people  and  the  princes 
chose  generally  to  identify  themselves  with  his  cause;  and  the  climax 
came  in  July,  1337,  when  a  treaty  of  alliance  was  concluded  with  the  Em- 
peror, Louis  of  Bavaria.  War  was  begun  in  this  same  year,  and  in  1338 
Edward  went  himself  to  the  continent  to  undertake  a  direct  attack  on 
France  from  Flanders  as  a  base.  The  years  1338  and  1339  were  con- 
sumed with  ineffective  operations  against  the  walled  cities  of  the  French 
frontier,  Philip  steadily  refusing  to  be  drawn  into  an  open  battle  such 
as  Edward  desired.  The  following  year  the  English  king  resolved  to 
declare  himself  sovereign  of  France.  The  circumstances  attending  this 
important  step  are  detailed  in  the  passage  from  Froissart  given  below. 

Heretofore  Edward  had  merely  protested  that  by  reason  of  his  being  a 
grandson  of  Philip  the  Fair  he  should  have  been  awarded  the  throne  by 
the  French  barons  in  1328;  now,  at  the  instigation  of  his  German  and 
Flemish  allies,  he  flatly  announces  that  he  is  of  right  the  king  and 


422  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

that  Philip  VI.  is  to  be  deposed  as  an  usurper.  Of  course  this  was  a  dec- 
laration which  Edward  could  make  good  only  by  victory  in  the  war  upon 
which  he  had  entered.  But  the  claim  thus  set  up  rendered  it  inevitable 
that  the  war  should  be  waged  to  the  bitter  end  on  both  sides. 


Source — Chroniques  de  Jean  Froissart  (Soci^te  de  l'Histoire  de  France 
edition) ,  Chap.  XXXI.  Translated  in  Thomas  Johnes,  Froissart's 
Chronicles,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  110-112. 

When  King  Edward  had  departed  from  Flanders  and  arrived 
at  Brabant  he  set  out  straight  for  Brussels,  whither  he  was  at- 
tended by  the  duke  of  Gueldres,  the  duke  of  Juliers,  the  marquis 
of  Blanckenburg,  the  earl  of  Mons,  the  lord  John  of  Hainault,  the 
The  conference  lord  of  Fauquemont,  and  all  the  barons  of  the 
at  Brussels  Empire  who  were  allied  to  him,  as  they  wished 
to  consider  what  was  next  to  be  done  in  this  war  which  they  had 
begun.  For  greater  expedition,  they  ordered  a  conference  to  be 
held  in  the  city  of  Brussels,  and  invited  James  van  Arteveld 1  to 
attend  it,  who  came  thither  in  great  array,  and  brought  with 
him  all  the  councils  from  the  principal  towns  of  Flanders. 

At  this  parliament  the  king  of  England  was  advised  by  his 
allies  of  the  Empire  to  solicit  the  Flemings  to  give  him  their  aid 
and  assistance  in  this  war,  to  challenge  the  king  of  France,  and 
to  follow  King  Edward  wherever  he  should  lead  them,  and  in 
return  he  would  assist  them  in  the  recovery  of  Lisle,  Douay,  and 
Bethune.2  The  Flemings  heard  this  proposal  with  pleasure; 
but  they  requested  of  the  king  that  they  might  consider  it  among 
themselves  and  in  a  short  time  they  would  give  their  answer. 

The  king  consented  and  soon  after  they  made  this  reply: 

1  James  van  Arte  Veld,  a  brewer  of  Ghent,  was  the  leader  of  the  popular 
party  in  Flanders — the  party  which  hated  French  influence,  which  had 
expelled  the  count  of  Flanders  on  account  of  his  services  to  Philip  VI.,  and 
which  was  the  most  valuable  English  ally  on  the  continent.  Arteveld  was 
murdered  in  1345  during  the  civil  discord  which  prevailed  in  Flanders 
throughout  the  earlier  part  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

2  These  were  towns  situated  near  the  Franco-Flemish  frontier.  They  had 
been  lost  by  Flanders  to  France  and  assistance  in  their  recovery  was  rightly 
considered  by  the  German  advisers  of  Edward  as  likely  to  be  more  tempting 
to  the  Flemish  than  any  other  offer  he  could  make  them. 


423 

" Beloved  sire,  you  formerly  made  us  a  similar  request;  and  we 
are  willing  to  do  everything  in  reason  for  you  without  prejudice 
to  our  honor  and  faith.  But  we  are  pledged  by  promise  on  oath, 
under  a  penalty  of  two  millions  of  florins,  to  the  apostolical 
Proposition  chamber,1  not  to  act  offensively  against  the  king 
Flemings  to6  °^  France  m  anv  waY>  whoever  he  may  be,  with- 
King  Edward  out  forfeiting  this  sum,  and  incurring  the  sentence 
of  excommunication.  But  if  you  will  do  what  we  will  tell  you, 
you  will  find  a  remedy,  which  is,  that  you  take  the  arms  of 
France,  quarter  them  with  those  of  England,  and  call  yourself 
king  of  France.  We  will  acknowledge  your  title  as  good,  and 
we  will  demand  of  you  quittance  for  the  above  sum,  which  you 
will  grant  us  as  king  pi  France.  Thus  we  shall  be  absolved  and 
at  liberty  to  go  with  you  wherever  it  pleases  you." 

The  king  summoned  his  council,  for  he  was  loath  to  take  the 
title  and  arms  of  France,  seeing  that  at  present  he  had  not  con- 
quered any  part  of  that  kingdom  and  that  it  was  uncertain  whether 
he  ever  should.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  unwilling  to  lose  the 
aid  and  assistance  of  the  Flemings,  who  could  be  of  greater 
service  to  him  than  any  others  at  that  period.  He  consulted, 
therefore,  with  the  lords  of  the  Empire,  the  lord  Robert  d' Artois,2 
and  his  most  privy  councilors,  who,  after  having  duly  weighed 
the  good  and  bad,  advised  him  to  make  for  answer  to  the  Flem- 
The  agreement  ings,  that  if  they  would  bind  themselves  under 
concluded  fadx  seals,  to  an  agreement  to  aid  him  in  carry- 

ing on  the  war,  he  would  willingly  comply  with  their  conditions, 
and  would  swear  to  assist  them  in  the  recovery  of  Lisle,  Douay, 
and  Bethune.  To  this  they  willingly  consented.  A  day  was 
fixed  for  them  to  meet  at  Ghent,3  where  the  king  and  the  greater 

1  That  is,  the  papal  court. 

2  Robert  of  Artois  was  a  prince  who  had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  outbreak 
of  the  Hundred  Years'  War.  After  having  lost  a  suit  for  the  inheritance  of 
the  county  of  Artois  (the  region  about  the  Somme  River)  and  having  been 
proved  guilty  of  fabricating  documents  to  support  his  claims,  he  had  fled 
to  England  and  there  as  an  exile  had  employed  every  resource  to  influence 
Edward  to  claim  the  French  throne  and  to  go  to  war  to  secure  it. 

3  In  northeastern  Flanders. 


424  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

part  of  the  lords  of  the  Empire,  and  in  general  the  councils  from 
the  different  towns  in  Flanders,  assembled.  The  above-men- 
tioned proposals  and  answers  were  then  repeated,  sworn  to,  and 
sealed;  and  the  king  of  England  bore  the  arms  of  France,  quar- 
tering them  with  those  of  England.  He  also  took  the  title  of 
king  of  France  from  that  day  forward. 

75.    The  Naval  Battle  of  Sluys  (1340) 

In  the  spring  of  1340  Edward  returned  to  England  to  secure  money 
and  supplies  with  which  to  prosecute  the  war.  The  French  king  thought 
he  saw  in  this  temporary  withdrawal  of  his  enemy  an  opportunity  to 
strike  him  a  deadly  blow.  A  fleet  of  nearly  two  hundred  vessels  was 
gathered  in  the  harbor  of  Sluys,  on  the  Flemish  coast,  with  a  view  to 
attacking  the  English  king  on  his  return  to  the  continent  and  preventing 
him  from  again  securing  a  foothold  in  Flanders.  Edward,  however, 
accepted  the  situation  and  made  ready  to  fight  his  way  back  to  the  coun- 
try of  his  allies.  June  24,  1340,  he  boldly  attacked  the  French  at  Sluys. 
The  sharp  conflict  which  ensued  resulted  in  a  brilliant  victory  for  the 
English.  Philip's  fleet  found  itself  shut  up  in  the  harbor  and  utterly 
unable  to  withstand  the  showers  of  arrows  shot  by  the  thousands  of 
archers  who  crowded  the  English  ships.  The  French  navy  was  annihi- 
lated, England  was  relieved  from  the  fear  of  invasion,  and  the  whole 
French  coast  was  laid  open  to  attack. 

Source — Chroniques  de  Jean  Froissart  (Socie'te'  de  l'Histoire  de  France 
edition) ,  Chap.  XXXVII.  Translated  in  Thomas  Johnes,  Froissart's 
Chronicles,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  141-143. 

He  [King  Edward]  and  his  whole  navy  sailed  from  the  Thames 
the  day  before  the  eve  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  1340,1  and  made 
straight  for  Sluys. 

Sir  Hugh  Quiriel,  Sir  Peter  Bahucet,  and  Barbenoir,  were  at 

that  time  lying  between  Blankenburg  and  Sluys  with  upwards 

of  one   hundred   and   twenty   large   vessels,   without   counting 

others.     These  were  manned  with  about  forty  thousand  men, 

I  That  is,  June  23.  The  English  fleet  was  composed  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  vessels,  carrying  11,000  archers  and  4,000  men-at-arms. 


THE   NAVAL   BATTLE   OF   SLUYS  425 

Genoese  and  Picards,  including  mariners.  By  the  orders  of  the 
king  of  France,  they  were  there  at  anchor,  awaiting  the  return 
of  the  king  of  England,  to  dispute  his  passage. 

When  the  king's  fleet  had  almost  reached  Sluys,  they  saw  so 
many  masts  standing  before  it  that  they  looked  like  a  wood. 
The  king  asked  the  commander  of  his  ship  what  they  could  be. 
The  latter  replied  that  he  imagined  they  must  be  that  armament 
of  Normans  which  the  king  of  France  kept  at  sea,  and  which 
had  so  frequently  done  him  much  damage,  had  burned  his  good 
town  of  Southampton  and  taken  his  large  ship 
mines  to  fight  the  Christopher.  The  king  replied,  "I  have  for 
at  Sluys  a  jong  t-me  desired   to    meet    them,   and  now, 

please  God  and  St.  George,  we  will  fight  with  them;  for,  in 
truth,  they  have  done  me  so  much  mischief  that  I  will  be  re- 
venged on  them  if  it  be  possible." 

The  king  then  drew  up  all  his  vessels,  placing  the  strongest 
in  front,  and  his  archers  on  the  wings.  Between  every  two 
vessels  with  archers  there  was  one  of  men-at-arms.  He  stationed 
some  detached  vessels  as  a  reserve,  full  of  archers,  to  assist  and 
help  such  as  might  be  damaged.  There  were  in  this  fleet  a  great 
many  ladies  from  England,  countesses,  baronesses,  and  knights' 
and  gentlemen's  wives,  who  were  going  to  attend  on  the  queen 
at  Ghent.1  These  the  king  had  guarded  most  carefully  by  three 
hundred  men-at-arms  arid  five  hundred  archers. 

When  the  king  of  England  and  his  marshals  had  properly 
divided  the  fleet,  they  hoisted  their  sails  to  have  the  wind  on 
their  quarter,  as  the  sun  shone  full  in  their  faces  (which  they 
considered  might  be  of  disadvantage  to  them)  and  stretched  out 
a  little,  so  that  at  last  they  got  the  wind  as  they  wished.  The 
Normans,  who  saw  them  tack,  could  not  help  wondering  why  they 
The  French  did  so,  and  remarked  that  they  took  good  care  to 
make  ready  ^urn  about  because  they  were  afraid  of  meddling 
with  them.    They  perceived,  however,  by  his  banner,  that  the  king 

i  Edward  III.'s  queen  was  Philippa,  daughter  of  the  count  of  Hainault. 


426  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS*  WAR 

was  on  board,  which  gave  them  great  joy,  as  they  were  eager  to 
fight  with  him.  So  they  put  their  vessels  in  proper  order,  for 
they  were  expert  and  gallant  men  on  the  seas.  They  filled  the 
Christopher,  the  large  ship  which  they  had  taken  the  year  before 
from  the  English,  with  trumpets  and  other  warlike  instruments, 
and  ordered  her  to  fall  upon  the  English. 

The  battle  then  began  very  fiercely.  Archers  and  cross- 
bowmen  shot  with  all  their  might  at  each  other,  and  the  men-at- 
arms  engaged  hand  to  hand.  In  order  to  be  more  successful, 
they  had  large  grapnels  and  iron  hooks  with  chains,  which  they 
flung  from  ship  to  ship  to  moor  them  to  each  other.  There  were 
many  valiant  deeds  performed,  many  prisoners  made,  and  many 
rescues.  The  Christopher,  which  led  the  van,  was  recaptured 
The  battle  by  the  English,  and  all  in  her  taken  or  killed, 

rages  There  were  then  great  shouts  and  cries,  and  the 

English  manned  her  again  with  archers,  and  sent  her  to  fight 
against  the  Genoese. 

This  battle  was  very  murderous  and  horrible.  Combats  at 
sea  are  more  destructive  and  obstinate  than  upon  land,  for  it  is 
not  possible  to  retreat  or  flee — every  one  must  abide  his  fortune, 
and  exert  his  prowess  and  valor.  Sir  Hugh  Quiriel  and  his  com- 
panions were  bold  and  determined  men;  they  had  done  much 
mischief  to  the  English  at  sea  and  destroyed  many  of  their  ships. 
The  combat,  therefore,  lasted  from  early  in  the  morning  until 
noon,1  and  the  English  were  hard  pressed,  for  their  enemies  were 
four  to  one,  and  the  greater  part  men  who  had  been  used  to  the 
sea. 

The  king,  who  was  in  the  flower  of  his  youth,  showed  himself 
on  that  day  a  gallant  knight,  as  did  the  earls  of  Derby,  Pem- 
broke, Hereford,  Huntingdon,  Northampton,  and  Gloucester; 
the  lord  Reginald  Cobham,  lord  Felton,  lord  Bradestan,  sir 
Richard  Stafford,  the  lord  Percy,  sir  Walter  Manny,  sir  Henry 
de  Flanders,  sir  John  Beauchamp,  sir  John  Chandos,  the  lord 

1  Jn  reality,  until  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  or  about  nine  hours  in  all. 


THE    BATTLE* OF   CRECY  427 

Delaware,  Lucie  lord  Malton,  and  the  lord  Robert  d'Artois, 
now  called  earl  of  Richmond.  I  cannot  remember  the  names  of 
The  English  aU  those  who  behaved  so  valiantly  in  the  combat, 
triumph  gut  they  did  so  well  that,  with  some  assistance 

from  Bruges  and  those  parts  of  the  country,  the  French  were 
completely  defeated,  and  all  the  Normans  and  the  others  were 
killed  or  drowned,  so  that  not  one  of  them  escaped.1 

After  the  king  had  gained  this  victory,  which  was  on  the  eve 
of  St.  John's  day,2  he  remained  all  that  night  on  board  his 
ship  before  Sluys,  and  there  were  great  noises  with  trumpets  and 
all  kinds  of  other  instruments. 

76.   The  Battle  of  Crecy  (1346) 

In  July,  1346,  Edward  III.  landed  on  the  northwest  coast  of  Nor- 
mandy with  a  splendid  army  of  English,  Irish,  and  Welsh,  including  ten 
thousand  men  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  long  bow.  He  advanced  eastward, 
plundering  and  devastating  as  he  went,  probably  with  the  ultimate  in- 
tention of  besieging  Calais.  Finding  the  passage  of  the  Seine  impossible 
at  Rouen,  he  ascended  the  river  until  he  came  into  the  vicinity  of  Paris, 
only  to  learn  that  Philip  with  an  army  twice  the  size  of  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish had  taken  up  a  position  on  the  Seine  to  turn  back  the  invasion. 
The  French  king  allowed  himself  to  be  outwitted,  however,  and  Edward 
got  out  of  the  trap  into  which  he  had  fallen  by  marching  northward  to 
the  village  of  Crecy  in  Ponthieu.  With  an  army  that  had  grown  to  out- 
number the  English  three  to  one  Philip  advanced  in  the  path  of  the 
enemy,  first  to  Abbeville  on  the  Somme,  and  later  to  Cr6cy,  slightly  to 
the  east  of  which  Edward  had  taken  his  stand  for  battle.  The  English 
arrived  at  Crecy  about  noon  on  Friday,  August  25.  The  French  were 
nearly  a  day  behind,  having  spent  the  night  at  Abbeville  and  set  out 
thence  over  the  roads  to  Crecy  before  sunrise  Saturday  morning.    The 

i  The  tide  of  battle  was  finally  turned  in  favor  of  the  English  by  the  arrival 
of  reinforcements  in  the  shape  of  a  squadron  of  Flemish  vessels.  The  con- 
test was  not  so  one-sided  or  the  French  defeat  so  complete  as  Froissart 
represents,  yet  it  was  decisive  enough,  as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  only 
thirty  of  the  French  ships  survived  and  20,000  French  and  Genoese  were 
slain  or  taken  prisoners,  as  against  an  English  loss  of  about  10,000. 

2  June  24,  1340. 


428  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

army  of  the  English  numbered  probably  about  14,000,  besides  an  uncer- 
tain reserve  of  Welsh  and  Irish  troops;  that  of  the  French  numbered 
about  70,000,  including  15,000  Genoese  cross-bowmen.  The  course  of 
the  battle  is  well  described  by  Froissart  in  the  passage  below.  Doubtless 
the  account  is  not  accurate  in  every  particular,  yet  it  must  be  correct 
in  the  main  and  it  shows  very  vividly  the  character  of  French  and  P^ng- 
lish  warfare  in  this  period.  Despite  the  superior  numbers  of  the  French, 
the  English  had  small  difficulty  in  winning  a  decisive  victory.  This  was 
due  to  several  things.  In  the  first  place,  the  French  army  was  a  typical 
feudal  levy  and  as  such  was  sadly  lacking  in  discipline  and  order,  while 
the  English  troops  were  under  perfect  control.  In  the  next  place,  the 
use  of  the  long-bow  gave  the  English  infantry  a  great  advantage  over 
the  French  knights,  and  even  over  the  Genoese  mercenaries,  who  could 
shoot  just  once  while  an  English  long-bowman  was  shooting  twelve  times. 
In  the  third  place,  Philip's  troops  were  exhausted  before  entering  the 
battle  and  it  was  a  grievous  error  on  the  part  of  the  king  to  allow  the 
conflict  to  begin  before  his  men  had  an  opportunity  for  rest.1  The  great- 
est significance  of  the  English  victory  lay  in  the  blow  it  struck  at  feu- 
dalism, and  especially  the  feudal  type  of  warfare.  It  showed  very  clearly 
that  the  armored  knight  was  no  match  for  the  common  foot-soldier,  armed 
simply  with  his  long-bow,  and  that  feudal  methods  and  ideals  had  come 
to  be  inconsistent  with  success  in  war. 


Source — Chroniques  de  Jean  Froissart  (Soci^te"  de  l'Histoire  de  France 
edition),  Chap.  LX.  Translated  in  Thomas  Johnes,  Froissart's 
Chronicles,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  320-329  passim. 

The  king  of  England,  as  I  have  mentioned  before,  encamped 
this  Friday  in  the  plain,2  for  he  found  the  country  abounding 
in  provisions;  but  if  they  should  have  failed,  he  had  an  abundance 
in  the  carriages  which  attended  him.  The  army  set  about  furbish- 
ing and  repairing  their  armor;  and  the  king  gave  a  supper  that 

1  As  appears  from  Froissart's  account  (see  p.  431),  the  king,  on  the  advice 
of  some  of  his  knights,  decided  at  one  time  to  postpone  the  attack  until 
the  following  day;  but,  the  army  falling  into  hopeless  confusion  and  coming 
up  unintentionally  within  sight  of  the  English,  he  recklessly  gave  the  order 
to  advance  to  immediate  combat.  Perhaps,  however,  it  is  only  fair  to  place 
the  blame  upon  the  system  which  made  the  army  so  unmanageable,  rather 
than  upon  the  king^  personally. 

2  That  is,  the  plain  east  of  the  village  of  Crecy. 


THE   BATTLE   OF   CRECY  429 

evening  to  the  earls  and  barons  of  his  army,  where  they  made 
good  cheer.  On  their  taking  leave,  the  king  remained  alone  with 
the  lord  of  his  bed-chamber.  He  retired  into  his  oratory  and, 
falling  on  his  knees  before  the  altar,  prayed  to  God,  that  if  he 
should  fight  his  enemies  on  the  morrow  he  might  come  off  with 
honor.  About  midnight  he  went  to  his  bed  and,  rising  early 
the  next  day,  he  and  the  Prince  of  Wales 1  heard  Mass  and  com- 
municated. The  greater  part  of  his  army  did  the  same,  con- 
fessed, and  made  proper  preparations. 

After  Mass  the  king  ordered  his  men  to  arm  themselves  and 
assemble  on  the  ground  he  had  before  fixed  on.  He  had  en- 
Th  E  li  h  closed  a  large  park  near  a  wood,  on  the  rear  of 
prepare  for  his  army,  in  which  he  placed  all  his  baggage- 
wagons  and  horses;  and  this  park  had  but  one 
entrance.  His  men-at-arms  and  archers  remained  on  foot. 
The  king  afterwards  ordered,  through  his  constable  and  his 
two  marshals,  that  the  army  should  be  divided  into  three 
battalions.     .     .     . 

The  king  then  mounted  a  small  palfrey,  having  a  white  wand 
in  his  hand  and,  attended  by  his  two  marshals  on  each  side  of 
him,  he  rode  through  all  the  ranks,  encouraging  and  entreating 
the  army,  that  they  should  guard  his  honor.  He  spoke  this  so 
gently,  and  with  such  a  cheerful  countenance,  that  a  I  who  had 
been  dejected  were  immediately  comforted  by  seeing  and  hear- 
ing him. 

When  he  had  thus  visited  all  the  battalions,  it  was  near  ten 
o'clock.  He  retired  to  his  own  division  and  ordered  them  all  to 
eat  heartily  afterwards  and  drink  a  glass.  They  ate  and  drank  at 
their  ease;  and,  having  packed  up  pots,  barrels,  etc.,  in  the  carts, 
they  returned  to  their  battalions,  according  to  the  marshals' 
orders,  and  seated  themselves  on  the  ground,  placing  their 
helmets  and  bows  before  them,  that  they  might  be  the  fresher 
when  their  enemies  should  arrive. 

1  The  king's  eldest  son,  Edward,  generally  known  as  the  Black  Prince. 


430  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

That  same  Saturday,  the  king  of  France  arose  betimes  and 
heard  Mass  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter's  in  Abbeville,1  where 
he  was  lodged.  Having  ordered  his  army  to  do  the  same,  he 
left  that  town  after  sunrise.  When  he  had  marched  about  two 
leagues  from  Abbeville  and  was  approaching  the  enemy,  he  was 
advised  to  form  his  army  in  order  of  battle,  and  to  let  those  on 
foot  march  forward,  that  they  might  not  be  trampled  on  by  the 
horses.  The  king,  upon  this,  sent  off  four  knights — the  lord 
The  French  Moyne  of  Bastleberg,  the  lord  of  Noyers,  the 
Ab^evilleTo11  *or(*  °^  BeauJeu>  and  the  lord  of  Aubigny — who 
Crecy  rode  so  near  to  the  English  that  they  could  clearly 

distinguish  their  position.  The  English  plainly  perceived  that 
they  were  come  to  reconnoitre.  However,  they  took  no  notice 
of  it,  but  suffered  them  to  return  unmolested.  When  the  king 
of  France  saw  them  coming  back,  he  halted  his  army,  and  the 
knights,  pushing  through  the  crowds,  came  near  the  king,  who 
said  to  them,  "My  lords,  what  news?"  They  looked  at  each 
other,  without  opening  their  mouths;  for  no  one  chose  to  speak 
first.  At  last  the  king  addressed  himself  to  the  lord  Moyne, 
who  was  attached  to  the  king  of  Bohemia,  and  had  performed 
very  many  gallant  deeds,  so  that  he  was  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  valiant  knights  in  Christendom.  The  lord  Moyne  said, 
"Sir,  I  will  speak,  since  it  pleases  you  to  order  me,  but  with  the 
assistance  of  my  companions!  We  have  advanced  far  enough 
to  reconnoitre  your  enemies.  Know,  then,  that  they  are  drawn 
up  in  three  battalions  and  are  awaiting  you.  I  would  advise, 
for  my  part  (submitting,  however,  to  better  counsel),  that  you 
halt  your  army  here  and  quarter  them  for  the  night;  for  before 
the  rear  shall  come  up  and  the  army  be  properly  drawn  out,  it 

_....  ,  will  be  very  late.     Your  men  will  be  tired  and  in 

Philip's  J  # 

knights  ad-         disorder,  while  they  will  find  your  enemies  fresh 

y  and  properly  arrayed.    On  the  morrow,  you  may 

draw  up  your  army  more  at  your  ease  and  may  reconnoitre  at 

i  Abbeville  was  on  the  Somme  about  fifteen  miles  south  of  Cr6cy. 


THE   BATTLE  OF  CRECY  431 

leisure  on  what  part  it  will  be  most  advantageous  to  begin  the 
attack;  for,  be  assured,  they  will  wait  for  you." 

The  king  commanded  that  it  should  be  so  done;  and  the  two 
marshals  rode,  one  towards  the  front,  and  the  other  to  the  rear, 
crying  out,  "Halt  banners,  in  the  name  of  God  and  St.  Denis." 
Those  that  were  in  the  front  halted;  but  those  behind  said  they 
would  not  halt  until  they  were  as  far  forward  as  the  front. 
When  the  front  perceived  the  rear  pushing  on,  they  pushed  for- 
ward; and  neither  the  king  nor  the  marshals  could  stop  them, 
c  f  .  .  but  they  marched  on  without  any  order  until 
the  French  they  came  in  sight  of  their  enemies.1     As  soon  as 

the  foremost  rank  saw  them,  they  fell  back  at 
once  in  great  disorder,  which  alarmed  those  in  the  rear,  who 
thought  they  had  been  fighting.  There  was  then  space  and 
room  enough  for  them  to  have  passed  forward,  had  they  been 
willing  to  do  so.     Some  did  so,  but  others  remained  behind. 

All  the  roads  between  Abbeville  and  Crecy  were  covered  with 
common  people,  who,  when  they  had  come  within  three  leagues 
of  their  enemies,  drew  their  swords,  crying  out,  "Kill,  kill;"  and 
with  them  were  many  great  lords  who  were  eager  to  make  show 
of  their  courage.  There  is  no  man,  unless  he  had  been  present, 
who  can  imagine,  or  describe  truly,  the  confusion  of  that  day; 
especially  the  bad  management  and  disorder  of  the  French, 
whose  troops  were  beyond  number. 

The  English,  who  were  drawn  up  in  three  divisions  and  seated 
on  the  ground,  on  seeing  their  enemies  advance,  arose  boldly 
Th    E     li  h        anc^  ^  m^°  tneir  ranks.      That  of  the  prince2 

prepare  for  was  the  first  to  do  so,  whose  archers  were  formed 
battle 

in  the  manner  of  a  portcullis,  or  harrow,  and  the 

men-at-arms    in    the    rear.     The  earls   of   Northampton    and 

Arundel,  who  commanded  the  second  division,  had  posted  them- 


1  This  incident  very  well  illustrates  the  confusion  and  lack  of  discipline 
prevailing  in  a  typical  feudal  army. 

2  Edward,  the  Black  Prince,  eldest  son  of  the  English  king. 


432 

selves  in  good  order  on  his  wing  to  assist  and  succor  the  prince, 
if  necessary. 

You  must  know  that  these  kings,  dukes,  earls,  barons,  and 
lords  of  France  did  not  advance  in  any  regular  order,  but  one 
after  the  other,  or  in  any  way  most  pleasing  to  themselves.  As 
soon  as  the  king  of  France  came  in  sight  of  the  English  his  blood 
began  to  boil,  and  he  cried  out  to  his  marshals,  "Order  the 
Genoese  forward,  and  begin  the  battle,  in  the  name  of  God  and 
St.  Denis." 

There  were  about  fifteen  thousand  Genoese  cross-bowmen;  but 
they  were  quite  fatigued,  having  marched  on  foot  that  day  six 
leagues,  completely  armed,  and  with  their  cross-bows.  They 
told  the  constable  that  they  were  not  in  a  fit  condition  to  do  any 
great  things  that  day  in  battle.  The  earl  of  Alencon,  hearing  this, 
said,  "This  is  what  one  gets  by  employing  such  scoundrels,  who 
fail  when  there  is  any  need  for  them." 

During  this  time  a  heavy  rain  fell,  accompanied  by  thunder 
and  a  very  terrible  eclipse  of  the  sun;  and  before  this  rain  a 
great  flight  of  crows  hovered  in  the  air  over  all  those  battalions, 
making  a  loud  noise.  Shortly  afterwards  it  cleared  up  and  the 
sun  shone  very  brightly;  but  the  Frenchmen  had  it  in  their  faces, 
and  the  English  at  their  backs. 

When  the  Genoese  were  somewhat  in  order  they  approached 
the  English  and  set  up  a  loud  shout  in  order  to  frighten  them; 
but  the  latter  remained  quite  still  and  did  not  seem  to  hear  it. 
They  then  set  up  a  second  shout  and  advanced  a  little  forward ; 
but  the  English  did  not  move.  They  hooted  a  third  time,  ad- 
vancing with  their  cross-bows  presented,  and  began  to  shoot. 
The  English  archers  then  advanced  one  step  forward  and  shot 
their  arrows  with  such  force  and  quickness  that  it  seemed  as 
if  it  snowed. 

When  the  Genoese  felt  these  arrows,  which  pierced  their  arms, 
heads,  and  through  their  armor,  some  of  them  cut  the  strings 
of  their  cross-bows,  others  flung  them  on  the  ground,  and  all 


THE   BATTLE  OF  CRECY  433 

turned  about  and  retreated,  quite  discomfited.    The  French  had 

a  large  body  of  men-at-arms  on  horseback,  richly  dressed,  to 

The  Genoese      suPPort  the  Genoese.    The  king  of  France,  seeing 

mercenaries        them  thus  fall  back,  cried  out,  "  Kill  me  those 

scoundrels;  for  they  stop  up  our  road,  without 

any  reason."     You  would  then  have  seen  the  above-mentioned 

men-at-arms  lay  about   them,  killing    all    that   they  could  of 

these  runaways. 

The  English  continued  shooting  as  vigorously  and  quickly  as 

before.     Some  of  their  arrows  fell  among  the  horsemen,  who 

were   sumptuously  equipped  and,  killing  and  wounding  many, 

made  them  caper  and  fall  among  the  Genoese,  so  that  they  were 

in  such  confusion  they  could  never  rally  again.     In  the  English 

army  there  were  some  Cornish  and  Welshmen  on  foot  who  had 

Slaughter  bv      armed  themselves  with  large  knives.    These,  ad- 

the  Cornish  vancing  through  the  ranks  of  the  men-at-arms 
and  Welsh  ,        .  ,  ,  £      , , 

and  archers,  who  made  way  for  them,  came  upon 

the  French  when  they  were  in  this  danger  and,  falling  upon  earls, 
barons,  knights  and  squires,  slew  many,  at  which  the  king  of 
England  was  afterwards  much  exasperated. 

The  valiant  king  of  Bohemia  was  slain  there.  He  was  called 
Charles  of  Luxemburg,  for  he  was  the  son  of  the  gallant  king 
and  emperor,  Henry  of  Luxemburg.1  Having  heard  the  order 
of  the  battle,  he  inquired  where  his  son,  the  lord  Charles,  was. 
His  attendants  answered  that  they  did  not  know,  but  believed 
that  he  was  fighting.  The  king  said  to  them:  "Sirs,  you  are 
all  my  people,  my  friends  and  brethren  at  arms  this  day;  there- 
fore, as  I  am  blind,  I  request  of  you  to  lead  me  so  far  into  the 
engagement  that  I  may  strike  one  stroke  with  my  sword."  The 
D  th  f  th  knights  replied  that  they  would  lead  him  for- 
king of  Bo-  ward  immediately;  and,  in  order  that  they  might 
not  lose  him  in  the  crowd,  they  fastened  the  reins 
of  all  their  horses  together,  and  put   the  king  at   their  head, 

i  The  Emperor  Henry  VII.,  1308-1314. 
Med.  His.— 28 


434  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

that  he  might  gratify  his  wish,  and  advanced  towards  the  enemy. 
The  king  rode  in  among  the  enemy,  and  made  good  use  of  his 
sword;  for  he  and  his  companions  fought  most  gallantly  They 
advanced  so  far  that  they  were  all  slain;  and  on  the  morrow  they 
were  found  on  the  ground,  with  their  horses  all  tied  together. 

Early  in  the  day,  some  French,  Germans,  and  Savoyards  had 
broken  through  the  archers  of  the  prince's  battalion,  and  had 
engaged  with  the  men-at-arms,  upon  which  the  second  bat- 
talion came  to  his  aid;  and  it  was  time,  for  otherwise  he  would 
have  been  hard  pressed.  The  first  division,  seeing  the  danger 
they  were  in,  sent  a  knight '  in  great  haste  to  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, who  was  posted  upon  an  eminence,  near  a  windmill.  On 
the  knight's  arrival,  he  said,  "Sir,  the  earl  of  Warwick,  the 
lord  Stafford,  the  lord  Reginald  Cobham,  and  the  others  who  are 
about  your  son  are  vigorously  attacked  by  the  French;  and  they 
entreat  that  you  come  to  their  assistance  with  your  battalion 
for,  if  the  number  of  the  French  should  increase,  they  fear  he 
will  have  too  much  to  do." 

The  king  replied:  "Is  my  son  dead,  unhorsed,  or  so  badly 
wounded  that  he  cannot  support  himself?"  "Nothing  of  the 
sort,  thank  God,"  rejoined  the  knight;  "but  he  is  in  so  hot  an 
engagement  that  he  has  great  need  of  your  help."  The  king 
Edward  gives     answered,   "  Now,  Sir  Thomas,  return  to  those 

Princea  chance  wno  sent  ^ou  an(*  te^  tnem  ^rom  me  not  to  seno^ 
to  win  his  spurs  again  for  me  this  day,  or  expect  that  I  shall  come, 

let  what  will  happen,  as  long  as  my  son  has  life;  and  say  that  I 
command  them  to  let  the  boy  win  his  spurs;  for  I  am  deter- 
mined, if  it  please  God,  that  all  the  glory  and  honor  of  this  day 
shall  be  given  to  him,  and  to  those  into  whose  care  I  have  en- 
trusted him."  The  knight  returned  to  his  lords  and  related  the 
king's  answer,  which  greatly  encouraged  them  and  made  them 
regret  that  they  had  ever  sent  such  a  message. 

Late  after  vespers,  the  king  of  France  had  not  more  about  him 

i  Sir  Thomas  Norwich. 


THE    BATTLE   OF   CRECY  435 

than  sixty  men,  every  one  included.  Sir  John  of  Hainault,  who 
was  of  the  number,  had  once  remounted  the  king;  for  the  latter's 
horse  had  been  killed  under  him  by  an  arrow.  He  said  to  the  king, 
"Sir,  retreat  while  you  have  an  opportunity,  and  do  not  expose 
Kinff  PhiliD  yourself  so  needlessly.  If  you  have  lost  this 
abandons  the  battle,  another  time  you  will  be  the  conqueror." 
After  he  had  said  this,  he  took  the  bridle  of  the 
king's  horse  and  led  him  off  by  force;  for  he  had  before  entreated 
him  to  retire. 

The  king  rode  on  until  he  came  to  the  castle  of  La  Broyes, 
where  he  found  the  gates  shut,  for  it  was  very  dark.  The  king 
ordered  the  governor  of  it  to  be  summoned.  He  came  upon  the 
battlements  and  asked  who  it  was  that  called  at  such  an  hour. 
The  king  answered,  "Open,  open,  governor;  it  is  the  fortune  of 
France."  The  governor,  hearing  the  king's  voice,  immediately 
descended,  opened  the  gate,  and  let  down  the  bridge.  The  king 
and  his  company  entered  the  castle;  but  he  had  with  him  only 
five  barons — Sir  John  of  Hainault,  the  lord  Charles  of  Mont- 
morency, the  lord  of  Beaujeu,  the  lord  of  Aubigny,  and  the  lord 
of  Montfort.  The  king  would  not  bury  himself  in  such  a  place  as 
that,  but,  having  taken  some  refreshments,  set  out  again  with 
his  attendants  about  midnight,,  and  rode  on,  under  the  direction 
of  guides  who  were  well  acquainted  with  the  country,  until, 
about  daybreak,  he  came  to  Amiens,  where  he  halted. 

This  Saturday  the  English  never  quitted  their  ranks  in  pur- 
suit of  any  one,  but  remained  on  the  field,  guarding  their  posi- 
The  English  ^on  anc*  defending  themselves  against  all  who 
after  the  attacked  them.    The  battle  was  ended  at  the  hour 

of  vespers.  When,  on  this  Saturday  night,  the 
English  heard  no  more  hooting  or  shouting,  nor  any  more  crying 
out  to  particular  lords,  or  their  banners,  they  looked  upon  the 
field  as  their  own  and  their  enemies  as  beaten. 

They  made  great  fires  and  lighted  torches  because  of  the 
darkness  of  the  night.    King  Edward  then  came  down  from  his 


436  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS*'   WAR 

post,  who  all  that  day  had  not  put  on  his  helmet,  and,  with  his 
whole  battalion,  advanced  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  whom  he 
embraced  in  his  arms  and  kissed,  and  said,  "  Sweet  son,  God 
give  you  good  preference.  You  are  my  son,  for  most  loyally  have 
you  acquitted  yourself  this  day.  You  are  worthy  to  be  a 
sovereign."  The  prince  bowed  down  very  low  and  humbled 
himself,  giving  all  honor  to  the  king  his  father. 

The  English,  during  the  night,  made  frequent  thanksgivings 
to  the  Lord  for  the  happy  outcome  of  the  day,  and  without 
rioting;  for  the  king  had  forbidden  all  riot  or  noise. 

77.    The  Sack  of  Limoges  (1370) 

As  a  single  illustration  of  the  devastation  wrought  by  the  Hundred 
Years'  War,  and  of  the  barbarity  of  the  commanders  and  troops  engaged 
in  it,  Froissart's  well-known  description  of  the  sack  of  Limoges  in  1370 
by  the  army  of  the  Black  Prince  is  of  no  small  interest.  In  some  respects, 
of  course,  circumstances  in  connection  with  this  episode  were  exceptional, 
and  we  are  not  to  imagine  that  such  heartless  and  indiscriminate  massa- 
cres were  common.  Yet  the  evidence  which  has  survived  all  goes  to 
show  that  the  long  course  of  the  war  was  filled  with  cruelty  and  destruc- 
tion in  a  measure  almost  inconceivable  among  civilized  peoples  in  more 
modern  times. 


Source — Chroniques  de  Jean  Froissart  (Socie'te'  de  l'Histoire  de  France 
edition),  Chap.  XCVII.  Translated  in  Thomas  Johnes,  Froissart's 
Chronicles,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  61-68  passim. 

When  word  was  brought  to  the  prince  that  the  city  of  Limoges 1 
had  become  French,  that  the  bishop,  who  had  been  his  com- 
panion and  one  in  whom  he  had  formerly  placed  great  confi- 

i  Limoges,  besieged  by  the  duke  of  Berry  and  the  great  French  general, 
Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  had  just  been  forced  to  surrender.  It  was  a  very 
important  town  and  its  capture  was  the  occasion  of  much  elation  among 
the  French.  Treaties  were  entered  into  between  the  duke  of  Berry  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  bishop  and  citizens  of  Limoges  on  the  other,  whereby  the 
inhabitants  recognized  the  sovereignty  of  the  French  king.  It  was  the  news 
of  this  surrender  that  so  angered  the  Black  Prince. 


THE   SACK   OF   LIMOGES  437 

dence,  was  a  party  to  all  the  treaties  and  had  greatly  aided  and 
assisted  in  the  surrender,  he  was  in  a  violent  passion  and  held 
The  Black  the  bishop  and  all  other  churchmen  in  very  low 

solves  tore-  estimation,  in  whom  formerly  he  had  put  great 
take  Limoges  trust.  He  swore  by  the  soul  of  his  father,  which 
he  had  never  perjured,  that  he  would  have  it  back  again,  that 
he  would  not  attend  to  anything  before  he  had  done  this,  and 
that  he  would  make  the  inhabitants  pay  dearly  for  their  treach- 
ery.    .     .     .  1 

All  these  men-at-arms  were  drawn  out  in  battle-array  and  took 
the  field,  when  the  whole  country  began  to  tremble  for  the 
consequences.  At  that  time  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  not  able 
to  mount  his  horse,  but  was,  for  his  greater  ease,  carried  in  a 
litter.  They  followed  the  road  to  the  Limousin,2  in  order  to  get 
to  Limoges,  where  in  due  time  they  arrived  and  encamped  all 
around  it.  The  prince  swore  he  would  never  leave  the  place 
until  he  had  regained  it. 

The  bishop  of  the  place  and  the  inhabitants  found  that  they 
had  acted  wickedly  and  had  greatly  incensed  the  prince,  for  which 
they  were  very  repentant,  but  that  was  now  of  no  avail,  as  they 
were  not  the  masters  of  the  town.3  When  the  prince  and  his 
marshals  had  well  considered  the  strength  and  force  of  Limoges, 
and  knew  the  number  of  people  that  were  in  it,  they  agreed  that 
The  town  to  ^ney  could  never  take  it  by  assault,  but  said  they 
be  undermined  WOuld  attempt  it  by  another  manner.  The  prince 
was  always  accustomed  to  carry  with  him  on  his  expeditions  a 
large  body  of  miners.  These  were  immediately  set  to  work  and 
made  great  progress.     The  knights  who  were  in  the  town  soon 


1  A  force  of  3,200  men  was  led  by  the  Black  Prince  from  the  town  of  Cognac 
to  undertake  the  siege  of  Limoges.  Froissart  here  enumerates  a  large 
number  of  notable  knights  who  went  with  the  expedition. 

2  The  Limousin  was  a  district  in  south  central  France,  southeast  of 
Poitou. 

3  Limoges  was  now  in  the  hands  of  three  commanders  representing  the 
French  king.  Their  names  were  John  de  Villemur,  Hugh  de  la  Roche,  and 
Roger  de  Beaufort. 


438  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS*  WAR 

perceived  that  they  were  undermining  them,  and  on  that  account 
began  to  countermine  to  prevent  the  effect.     .     .     . 

The  Prince  of  Wales  remained  about  a  month,  and  not  more, 
before  the  city  of  Limoges.  He  would  not  allow  any  assaults  or 
skirmishing,  but  kept  his  miners  steadily  at  work.  The  knights 
in  the  town  perceived  what  they  were  about  and  made  counter- 
mines to  destroy  them,  but  they  failed  in  their  attempt.  When 
the  miners  of  the  prince  (who,  as  they  found  themselves  counter- 
mined, kept  changing  the  line  of  direction  of  their  own  mine) 
had  finished  their  business,  they  came  to  the  prince  and  said, 
"My  lord,  we  are  ready,  and  will  throw  down,  whenever  it  pleases 
you,  a  very  large  part  of  the  wall  into  the  ditch,  through  the 
breach  of  which  you  may  enter  the  town  at  your  ease  and  with- 
out danger." 

This  news  was  very  agreeable  to  the  prince,  who  replied:  "I 
desire,  then,  that  you  prove  your  words  to-morrow  morning  at 
six  o'clock."  The  miners  set  fire  to  the  combustibles  in  the 
mine,  and  on  the  morrow  morning,  as  they  had  foretold  the 
The  English  prince,  they  flung  down  a  great  piece  of  wall  which 
assault  filled  the  ditches.     The  English  saw  this  with 

pleasure,  for  they  were  armed  and  prepared  to  enter  the  town. 
Those  on  foot  did  so  and  ran  to  the  gate,  which  they  destroyed, 
as  well  as  the  barriers,  for  there  were  no  other  defenses;  and  all 
this  was  done  so  suddenly  that  the  inhabitants  had  not  time  to 
prevent  it. 

The  prince,  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  the  earls  of  Cambridge  and 
of  Pembroke,  sir  Guiscard  d' Angle  and  the  others,  with  their 
men,  rushed  into  the  town.  You  would  then  have  seen  pillagers, 
active  to  do  mischief,  running  through  the  town,  slaying  men, 
women,  and  children,  according  to  their  orders.  It  was  a  most 
melancholy  business;  for  all  ranks,  ages,  and  sexes  cast  them- 
selves on  their  knees  before  the  prince,  begging  for  mercy;  but 
he  was  so  inflamed  with  passion  and  revenge  that  he  listened 
to  none.    But  all  were  put  to  the  sword,  wherever  they  could 


THE  TREATIES  OF  BRETIGNY  AND  TROYES       439 

be  found,  even  those  who  were  not  guilty.  For  I  know  not 
why  the  poor  were  not  spared,  who  could  -not  have  had  any 
Barbarity  of  Par^  m  ^ne  treason;  but  they  suffered  for  it,  and 
the  sack  indeed  more  than  those  who  had  been  the  leaders 

of  the  treachery. 

There  was  not  that  day  in  the  city  of  Limoges  any  heart  so 
hardened,  or  that  had  any  sense  of  religion,  that  did  not  deeply 
bewail  the  unfortunate  events  passing  before  men's  eyes;  for 
upwards  of  three  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  were  put  to 
death  that  day.  God  have  mercy  on  their  souls,  for  they  were 
truly  martyrs.  .  .  .  The  entire  town  was  pillaged,  burned, 
and  totally  destroyed.  The  English  then  departed,  carrying 
with  them  their  booty  and  prisoners. 

78.   The  Treaties  of  Bretigny  (1360)  and  Troyes  (1420) 

The  most  important  documents  in  the  diplomatic  history  of  the  Hun- 
dred Years'  Warfare  the  texts  of  the  treaty  of  London  (1359),  the  treaty 
of  Bretigny  (1360),  the  truce  of  Paris  (1396),  the  treaty  of  Troyes  (1420), 
the  treaty  of  Arras  (1435),  and  the  truce  of  Tours  (1444).  Brief  extracts 
from  two  of  these  are  given  below.  The  treaty  of  Bretigny  was  nego- 
tiated soon  after  the  refusal  of  the  French  to  ratify  the  treaty  of  London. 
In  November,  1359,  King  Edward  III.,  with  his  son,  Edward,  the  Black 
Prince,  and  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  crossed  the  Channel,  marched  on 
Rheims,  and  threatened  Paris.  Negotiations  for  a  new  peace  were  ac- 
tively opened  in  April,  1360,  after  the  English  had  established  themselves 
at  Montlheri,  south  from  Paris.  The  French  king,  John  II.,  who  had 
been  taken  prisoner  at  Poitiers  (1356),  gave  full  powers  of  negotiation 
to  his  son  Charles,  duke  of  Normandy  and  regent  of  the  kingdom.  For 
some  time  no  definite  conclusions  were  reached,  owing  chiefly  to  Ed- 
ward's unwillingness  to  renounce  his  claim  to  the  French  throne.  Late 
in  April  the  negotiations  were  transferred  to  Chartres,  subsequently  to 
Bretigny.  Finally,  on  the  eighth  of  May,  representatives  of  the  two  par- 
ties signed  the  so-called  treaty  of  Bretigny.  Although  the  instrument 
was  promptly  ratified  by  the  French  regent  and  by  the  Black  Prince 
(and,  if  we  may  believe  Froissart,  by  the  two  kings  themselves),  it  was 


440 

afterwards  revised  and  accepted  in  a  somewhat  different  form  by  the 
monarchs  and  their  following  assembled  at  Calais  (October  24,  1360). 
The  most  important  respect  in  which  the  second  document  differed  from 
the  first  was  the  omission  of  Article  12  of  the  first  treaty,  in  which  Ed- 
ward renounced  his  claim  to  the  throne  of  France  and  the  sovereignty  of 
Normandy,  Maine,  Anjou,  Touraine,  Brittany,  and  Flanders;  neverthe- 
less Edward,  at  Calais,  made  this  renunciation  in  a  separate  convention, 
which  for  all  practical  purposes  was  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  treaty. 
The  passages  printed  below  are  taken  from  the  Calais  text.  Most  of  the 
thirty-nine  articles  composing  the  document  are  devoted  to  mere  de- 
tails. The  war  was  renewed  after  a  few  years,  and  within  two  decades 
the  English  had  lost  all  the  territory  guaranteed  to  them  in  1360,  except 
a  few  coast  towns. 

The  treaty  of  Troyes  (1420)  belongs  to  one  of  the  most  stormy  periods 
in  all  French  history.  The  first  two  decades  of  the  fifteenth  century 
were  marked  by  a  cessation  of  the  war  with  England  (until  its  renewal 
in  1415),  but  also  unfortunately  by  the  outbreak  of  a  desperate  civil 
struggle  between  two  great  factions  of  the  French  people,  the  Burgun- 
dians  and  the  Armagnacs.  The  Burgundians,  led  by  Philip  the  Bold 
and  John  the  Fearless  (successive  dukes  of  Burgundy),  stood  for  a  policy 
of  friendship  with  England,  while  the  Armagnacs,  comprising  the  ad- 
herents of  Charles,  duke  of  Orleans,  whose  wife  was  a  daughter  of  the 
count  of  Armagnac,  advocated  the  continuation  of  the  war  with  the 
English;  though,  in  reality,  the  forces  which  kept  the  two  factions  apart 
were  jealousy  and  ambition  rather  than  any  mere  question  of  foreign 
relations.  The  way  was  prepared  for  a  temporary  Burgundian  triumph 
by  the  notable  victory  of  the  English  at  Agincourt  in  1415  and  by  the 
assassination  of  John  the  Fearless  at  Paris  in  1419,  which  made  peace 
impossible  and  drove  the  Burgundians  openly  into  the  arms  of  the  Eng- 
lish. Philip  the  Good,  the  new  duke  of  Burgundy,  became  the  avowed 
ally  of  the  English  king  Henry  V.,  who  since  1417  had  been  slowly  but 
surely  conquering  Normandy  and  now  had  the  larger  portion  of  it  in 
his  possession.  Philip  recognized  Henry  as  the  true  heir  to  the  French 
throne  and  in  1419  concluded  with  him  two  distinct  treaties  on  that 
basis.  Charles  VI.,  the  reigning  king  of  France,  was  mentally  unbalanced 
and  the  queen,  who  bitterly  hated  the  Armagnacs  (with  whom  her  son, 
the  Dauphin  Charles,  was  actively  identified),  was  easily  persuaded  by 


THE  TREATIES  OF  BRETIGNY  AND  TROYES       441 

Duke  Philip  to  acquiesce  in  a  treaty  by  which  the  succession  should  be 
vested  in  the  English  king  upon  the  death  of  Charles  VI.  The  result 
was  the  treaty  of  Troyes,  signed  May  21,  1420.  According  to  agreements 
already  entered  into  by  Philip  and  Henry,  the  latter  was  to  marry 
Catherine,  daughter  of  Charles  VI.  (the  marriage  was  not  mentioned  in 
the  treaty  of  Troyes,  but  it  was  clearly  assumed),  and  he  was  to  act  as 
regent  of  France  until  Charles  VI. 's  death  and  then  become  king  in  his 
own  name.  Most  of  the  thirty-one  articles  of  the  treaty  were  taken  up 
with  a  definition  of  Henry's  position  and  obligations  as  regent  and  pro- 
spective sovereign  of  France. 

In  due  time  the  marriage  of  Henry  and  Catherine  took  place  and 
Henry  assumed  the  regency,  though  the  Armagnacs,  led  by  the  Dauphin, 
refused  absolutely  to  accept  the  settlement.  War  broke  out,  in  the 
course  of  which  (in  1422)  Henry  V.  died  and  was  succeeded  by  his  in- 
fant son,  Henry  VI.  In  the  same  year  Charles  VI.  also  died,  which 
meant  that  the  young  Henry  would  become  king  of  France.  With  such 
a  prospect  the  future  of  the  country  looked  dark.  Nevertheless,  the 
death  of  Charles  VI.  and  of  Henry  V.  came  in  reality  as  a  double  bless- 
ing. Henry  V.  might  long  have  kept  the  French  in  subjection  and  his 
position  as  Charles  VI.'s  son-in-law  gave  him  some  real  claim  to  rule  in 
France.  But  with  the  field  cleared,  as  it  was  in  1422,  opportunity  was 
given  for  the  Dauphin  Charles  (Charles  VII.)  to  retrieve  the  fallen  for- 
tunes of  his  country — a  task  which,  with  more  or  less  energy  and  skill, 
he  managed  in  the  long  run  to  accomplish. 

Sources — (a)  Text  in  Eugene  Cosneau,  Les  Grands  Traites  de  la  Guerre  de 
Cent  Ans  ["The  Great  Treaties  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War"], 
Paris,  1889,  pp.  39-68  passim. 
(b)  Text  in  Cosneau,  ibid.  pp.  102-115  passim. 

(a) 
1.   The  king  of  England  shall  hold  for  himself  and  his  heirs, 
for  all  time  to  come,  in  addition  to  that  which  he  holds  in  Guienne 
Territories  and    Gascony,    all    the    possessions    which    are 

the^Enlush         enumerated  below,  to  be  held  in  the  same  man- 
by  the  treaty      ner  that  the  king  of  France  and  his  sons,  or  any 
&ny         0f  their  ancestors,  have  held  them.     .     .     ,1 
1  Here  follows  a  minute  enumeration  of  the  districts,  towns,  and  castles 


442  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR 

7.  And  likewise  the  said  king  and  his  eldest  son1  shall  give 
order,  by  their  letters  patent  to  all  archbishops  and  other  prelates 
of  the  holy  Church,  and  also  to  counts,  viscounts,  barons,  nobles, 
citizens,  and  others  of  the  cities,  lands,  countries,  islands,  and 
places  before  mentioned,  that  they  shall  be  obedient  to  the  king 
of  England  and  to  his  heirs  and  at  their  ready  command,  in  the 
same  manner  in  which  they  have  been  obedient  to  the  kings  and 
to  the  crown  of  France.  And  by  the  same  letters  they  shall 
liberate  and  absolve  them  from  all  homage,  pledges,  oaths,  obli- 
gations, subjections,  and  promises  made  by  any  of  them  to  the 
kings  and  to  the  crown  of  France  in  any  manner. 

13.  It  is  agreed  that  the  king  of  France  shall  pay  to  the  king 
of  England  three  million  gold  crowns,  of  which  two  are  worth 
an  obol  of  English  money.2 

30.  It  is  agreed  that  honest  alliances,  friendships,  and  con- 
federations shall  be  formed  by  the  two  kings  of  France  and 
Provision  England  and  their  kingdoms,  not  repugnant  to 

regarding  the  honor  or  the  conscience  of  one  king  or  the 

alliances 

other.    No  alliances  which  they  have,  on  this  side 

or  that,  with  any  person  of  Scotland  or  Flanders,  or  any  other 

country,  shall  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way.3 


conceded  to  the  English.  The  most  important  were  Poitou,  Limousin, 
Rouergne,  and  Saintonge  in  the  south,  and  Calais,  Guines,  and  Ponthieu  in 
the  north. 

1  That  is,  King  John  II.  and  the  regent  Charles. 

2  The  enormous  ransom  thus  specified  for  King  John  was  never  paid. 
The  three  million  gold  crowns  would  have  a  purchasing  power  of  perhaps 
forty  or  forty-five  million  dollars  to-day.  On  the  strength  of  the  treaty 
provision  John  was  immediately  released  from  captivity.  With  curious 
disregard  of  the  bad  conditions  prevailing  in  France  as  the  result  of  foreign 
and  civil  war  he  began  preparations  for  a  crusade,  which,  however,  he  was 
soon  forced  to  abandon.  In  1364,  attracted  by  the  gayety  of  English  life  as 
contrasted  with  the  wretchedness  and  gloom  of  his  impoverished  subjects, 
he  went  voluntarily  to  England,  where  he  died  before  the  festivities  in  honor 
of  his  coming  were  completed. 

!  Throughout  the  Hundred  Years'  War  the  English  had  maintained  close 
relations  with  the  Flemish  enemies  of  France,  just  as  France,  in  defiance  of 
English  opposition,  had  kept  up  her  traditional  friendship  with  Scotland. 
The  treaty  of  Bretigny  provided  for  a  mutual  reshaping  of  foreign  policy, 
to  the  end  that  these  obstacles  to  peace  might  be  removed. 


THE  TREATIES  OP  BRETIGNY  AND  TROYES      443 

(b) 

6.  After  our  death,1  and  from  that  time  forward,  the  crown 
The  Treaty  of  and  kingdom  of  France,  with  all  their  rights  and 
the"succession  appurtenances,  shall  be  vested  permanently  in  our 
upon  Henry  V    son  [son-in-law],  King  Henry,  and  his  heirs. 

7.  .  .  .  The  power  and  authority  to  govern  and  to  control 
the  public  affairs  of  the  said  kingdom  shall,  during  our  life-time, 
be  vested  in  our  son,  King  Henry,  with  the  advice  of  the  nobles 
and  the  wise  men  who  are  obedient  to  us,  and  who  have  considera- 
tion for  the  advancement  and  honor  of  the  said  kingdom.     .     .     . 

22.  It  is  agreed  that  during  our  life-time  we  shall  designate 
our  son,  King  Henry,  in  the  French  language  in  this  fashion,  Notre 
Henry's  ^s   c^er  fi^s  Henri,  roi   oVAngleterre,  heritier  de 

tifcle  France;  and  in  the  Latin  language  in  this  manner, 

Noster  prcecarissimus  filius  Henricus,  rex  Angliw,  heres  Francice. 

24.  .  .  .  [It  is  agreed]  that  the  two  kingdoms  shall  be 
governed  from  the  time  that  our  said  son,  or  any  of  his  heirs, 
shall  assume  the  crown,  not  divided  between  different  kings  at 
Union  of  ^ne  same  time,  but  under  one  person,  who  shall 

France  and  be  kmg  an(j  sovereign  lord  of  both  kingdoms; 
through  the  observing  all  pledges  and  all  other  things,  to  each 
crown  on  y  kingdom  its  rights,  liberties  or  customs,  usages  and 
laws,  not  submitting  in  any  manner  one  kingdom  to  the  other.2 

29.  In  consideration  of  the  frightful  and  astounding  crimes 
and  misdeeds  committed  against  the  kingdom  of  France  by 
Charles,  the  said  Dauphin,  it  is  agreed  that  we,  our  son  Henry, 
and  also  our  very  dear  son  Philip,  duke  of  Burgundy,  will  never 
treat  for  peace  or  amity  with  the  said  Charles.3 

i  That  is,  the  death  of  King  Charles  VI. 

2  France  was  not  to  be  dealt  with  as  conquered  territory.  This  article 
comprises  the  only  important  provision  in  the  treaty  for  safeguarding  the 
interests  of  the  French  people.  • 

3  Charles  VI.,  Henry  v.,  and  Philip  the  Good  bind  themselves  not  to  come 
to  any  sort  of  terms  with  the  Dauphin,  which  compact  reveals  the  irreconci- 
lable attitude  characteristic  of  the  factional  and  dynastic  struggles  of  the 
period.  Chapter  6  of  the  treaty  disinherits  the  Dauphin;  chapter  29  pro- 
claims him  an  enemy  of  France. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

The  question  as  to  when  the  Middle  Ages  came  to  an  end  cannot  be 
answered  with  a  specific  date,  or  even  with  a  particular  century.  The 
transition  from  the  mediaeval  world  to  the  modern  was  gradual  and  was 
accomplished  at  a  much  earlier  period  in  some  lines  than  in  others. 
Roughly  speaking,  the  change  fell  within  the  two  centuries  and  a  half 
from  1300  to  1550.  This  transitional  epoch  is  commonly  designated 
the  Age  of  the  Renaissance,  though  if  the  term  is  taken  in  its  most  proper 
sense  as  denoting  the  flowering  of  an  old  into  a  new  culture  it  scarcely 
does  justice  to  the  period,  for  political  and  religious  developments  in 
these  centuries  were  not  less  fundamental  than  the  revival  and  fresh 
stimulus  of  culture.  But  in  the  earlier  portion  of  the  period,  particularly 
the  fourteenth  century,  the  intellectual  awakening  was  the  most  obvious 
feature  of  the  movement  and,  for  the  time  being,  the  most  important. 

The  renaissance  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  was  not  the 
first  that  Europe  had  known.  There  had  been  a  notable  revival  of  learn- 
ing in  the  time  of  Charlemagne — the  so-called  Carolingian  renaissance; 
another  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Otto  III.  and  Pope  Sylvester  II.;  and  a  third  in  the  twelfth  century, 
with  its  center  in  northern  France.  The  first  two,  however,  had  proved 
quite  transitory,  and  even  the  third  and  most  promising  had  dried  up 
in  the  fruitless  philosophy  of  the  scholastics. 

Before  there  could  be  a  vital  and  permanent  intellectual  revival  it  was 
indispensable  that  the  mediaeval  attitude  of  mind  undergo  a  funda- 
mental change.  This  attitude  may  be  summed  up  in  the  one  phrase, 
the  absolute  dominance  of  "authority" — the  authority,  primarily,  of 
the  Church,  supplemented  by  the  writings  of  a  few  ancients  like  Aristotle. 
The  scholars  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  busied  themselves,  not  with 
research  and  investigation  whereby  to  increase  knowledge,  but  rather 
with  commenting  on  the  Scriptures,  the  writings  of  the  Church  fathers, 

444 


445 

and  Aristotle,  and  drawing  conclusions  and  inferences  by  reasoning  from 
these  accepted  authorities.  There  was  no  disposition  to  question  what 
was  found  in  the  books,  or  to  supplement  it  with  fresh  information.  Only- 
after  about  1300  did  human  interests  become  sufficiently  broadened  to 
make  men  no  longer  altogether  content  with  the  mere  process  of  thresh- 
ing over  the  old  straw.  Gradually  there  began  to  appear  scholars  who 
suggested  the  idea,  novel  for  the  day,  that  the  books  did  not  contain  all 
that  was  worth  knowing,  and  also  that  perchance  some  things  that  had 
long  gone  unquestioned  just  because  they  were  in  the  books  were  not 
true  after  all.  In  other  words,  they  proposed  to  investigate  things  for 
themselves  and  to  apply  the  tests  of  observation  and  impartial  reason. 
The  most  influential  factor  in  producing  this  change  of  attitude  was 
the  revival  of  classical  literature  and  learning.  The  Latin  classics,  and 
even  some  of  the  Greek,  had  not  been  unknown  in  the  earlier  Middle 
Ages,  but  they  had  not  been  read  widely,  and  when  read  at  all  they  had 
been  valued  principally  as  models  of  rhetoric  rather  than  as  a  living  lit- 
erature to  be  enjoyed  for  the  ideas  that  were  contained  in  it  and  the 
forms  in  which  they  were  expressed.  These  ideas  were,  of  course,  gen- 
erally pagan,  and  that  in  itself  was  enough  to  cause  the  Church  to  look 
askance  at  the  use  of  classical  writings,  except  for  grammatical  or  anti- 
quarian purposes.  In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  however, 
due  to  a  variety  of  causes,  the  reading  of  the  classics  became  commoner 
than  since  Roman  days,  and  men,  bringing  to  them  more  open  minds, 
were  profoundly  attracted  by  the  fresh,  original,  human  ideas  of  life  and 
the  world  with  which  Vergil  and  Horace  and  Cicero,  for  example,  over- 
flowed. It  was  all  a  new  discovery  of  the  world  and  of  man,  and  from  the 
humanitas  which  the  scholars  found  set  forth  as  the  classical  conception 
of  culture  they  themselves  took  the  name  of  "humanists, "  while  the  sub- 
jects of  their  studies  came  to  be  known  as  the  litterce  humaniores.  This 
first  great  phase  of  the  Renaissance — the  birth  of  humanism — found 
its  finest  expression  in  Dante  and  Petrarch,  and  it  cannot  be  studied 
with  better  effect  than  in  certain  of  the  writings  of  these  two  men. 

79.   Dante's  Defense  of  Italian  as  a  Literary  Language 

Dante  Alighieri  was  born  at  Florence  in  1265.    Of  his  early  life  little 
is  known.    His  family  seems  to  have  been  too  obscure  to  have  much  part 


446  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

in  the  civil  struggles  with  which  Florence,  and  all  Italy,  in  that  day- 
were  vexed.  The  love  affair  with  Beatrice,  whose  story  Boccaccio  re- 
lates with  so  much  zest,  is  the  one  sharply-defined  feature  of  Dante's 
youth  and  early  manhood.  It  is  known  that  at  the  age  of  eighteen  the 
young  Florentine  was  a  poet  and  was  winning  wide  recognition  for  his 
sonnets.  Much  time  was  devoted  by  him  to  study  of  literature  and  the 
arts,  but  the  details  of  his  employments,  intellectual  and  otherwise,  are 
impossible  to  make  out.  In  1290  occurred  the  death  of  Beatrice,  which 
event  marked  an  epoch  in  the  poetical  lover's  life.  In  his  sorrow  he 
took  refuge  in  the  study  of  such  books  as  Boethius's  Consolations  of 
Philosophy  and  Cicero's  Friendship,  and  became  deeply  interested  in 
literary,  and  especially  philosophical,  problems.  In  1295  he  entered 
political  life,  taking  from  the  outset  a  prominent  part  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  Florentine  General  Council  and  the  Council  of  Consuls  of  the  Arts. 
He  assumed  a  firm  attitude  against  all  forms  of  lawlessness  and  in  re- 
sistance to  any  external  interference  in  Florentine  affairs.  Owing  to 
conditions  which  he  could  not  influence,  however,  his  career  in  this 
direction  was  soon  cut  short  and  most  of  the  remainder  of  his  life  was 
spent  as  a  political  exile,  at  Lucca,  Verona,  Ravenna,  and  other  Italian 
cities,  with  a  possible  visit  to  Paris.  He  died  at  Ravenna,  September  14, 
1321,  in  his  fifty-seventh  year. 

Dante  has  well  been  called  "the  Janus-faced,"  because  he  stood  at 
the  threshold  of  the  new  era  and  looked  both  forward  and  backward. 
His  Divine  Comedy  admirably  sums  up  the  mediaeval  spirit,  and  yet  it 
contains  many  suggestions  of  the  coming  age.  His  method  was  essen- 
tially that  of  the  scholastics,  but  he  knew  many  of  the  classics  and  had 
a  genuine  respect  for  them  as  literature.  He  was  a  medievalist  in  his 
attachment  to  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  yet  he  cherished  the  purely 
modern  ambition  of  a  united  Italy.  It  is  deeply  significant  that  he 
chose  to  write  his  great  poem — one  of  the  most  splendid  in  the  world's 
literature — in  the  Italian  tongue  rather  than  the  Latin.  Aside  from 
the  fact  that  this,  more  than  anything  else,  caused  the  Tuscan  dialect, 
rather  than  the  rival  Venetian  and  Neapolitan  dialects,  to  become  the 
modern  Italian,  it  evidenced  the  new  desire  for  the  popularization  of 
literature  which  was  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  dawning  era.  Not 
content  with  putting  his  greatest  effort  in  the  vernacular,  Dante  under- 
took formally  to  defend  the  use  of  the  popular  tongue  for  literary  pur- 


dante's  defense  of  Italian  as  a  literary  language   447 

poses.  This  he  did  in  II  Convito  ("The  Banquet"),  a  work  whose  date 
is  quite  uncertain,  but  which  was  undoubtedly  produced  at  some  time 
while  its  author  was  in  exile.  It  is  essentially  a  prose  commentary  upon 
three  canzoni  written  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  "noble,  beautiful, 
and  most  compassionate  lady,  Philosophy. "  In  it  Dante  sought  to  set 
philosophy  free  from  the  schools  and  from  the  heavy  disputations  of  the 
scholars  and  to  render  her  beauty  visible  even  to  the  unlearned.  It  was 
the  first  important  work  on  philosophy  written  in  the  Italian  tongue,  an 
innovation  which  the  author  rightly  regarded  as  calling  for  some  ex- 
planation and  defense.  The  passage  quoted  from  it  below  comprises  this 
defense.  Similar  views  on.  the  nobility  of  the  vulgar  language,  as  com- 
pared with  the  Latin,  were  later  set  forth  in  fuller  form  in  the  treatise 
De  Vulgari  Eloquentia. 


Source — Dante  Alighieri,  II  Convito  ["The  Banquet"],  Bk.  I.,  Chaps.  5-13 
passim.  Translated  by  Katharine  Hillard  (London,  1889),  pp. 
17-47  passim. 

V.  1.  This  bread  being  cleansed  of  its  accidental  impurities,1 
we  have  now  but  to  free  it  from  one  [inherent]  in  its  substance, 
that  is,  its  being  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  not  in  Latin;  so  that 
we  might  metaphorically  call  it  made  of  oats  instead  of  wheat. 
Reasons  ^"nc^  ^s  [fault]  may  be  briefly  excused  by  three 

for  using  reasons,  which  moved  me  to  prefer  the  former 

rather  than  the  latter  [language].  The  first  arises 
from  care  to  avoid  an  unfit  order  of  things;  the  second,  from  a 
consummate  liberality;  the  third,  from  a  natural  love  of  one's 
own  tongue.    And  I  intend  here  in  this  manner  to  discuss,  in  due 

1  Dante  represents  the  commentaries  composing  the  Convito  as  in  the 
nature  of  a  banquet,  the  "meats"  of  which  were  to  be  set  forth  in  fourteen 
courses,  corresponding  to  the  fourteen  canzoni,  or  lyric  poems,  which  were 
to  be  commented  upon.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  for  some  unknown  reason,  the 
"  banquet ' '  was  broken  off  at  the  end  of  the  third  course.  "  At  the  beginning 
of  every  well-ordered  banquet"  observes  the  author  in  an  earlier  passage 
(Bk.  II.,  Chap.  1)  "the  servants  are  wont  to  take  the  bread  given  out  for 
it,  and  cleanse  it  from  every  speck."  Dante  has  just  cleansed  his  viands  from 
the  faults  of  egotism  and  obscurity, — the  "accidental  impurities";  he  now 
proceeds  to  clear  them  of  a  less  superficial  difficulty,  i.  e.,  the  fact  that  in 
serving  them  use  is  made  of  the  Italian  rather  than  the  Latin  language. 


448  THE   BEGINNINGS  OP   THE  ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

order,  these  things  and  their  causes,  that  I  may  free  myself  from 
the  reproach  above  named. 

3.  For,  in  the  first  place,  had  it  [the  commentary]  been  in 
Latin,  it  would  have  been  sovereign  rather  than  subject,  by  its 
nobility,  its  virtue,  and  its  beauty.  By  its  nobility,  because 
Latin  is  enduring  and  incorruptible,  and  the  vulgar  tongue  is 
unstable  and  corruptible.  For  we  see  that  the  ancient  books  of 
Latin  tragedy  and  comedy  cannot  be  changed  from  the  form  we 
The  Latin  fixed  nave  to-day,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  vulgar 
the  Italian  tongue,  as  that  can  be  changed  at  will.    For  we 

see  in  the  cities  of  Italy,  if  we  take  notice  of  the 
past  fifty  years,  how  many  words  have  been  lost,  or  invented,  or 
altered;  therefore,  if  a  short  time  can  work  such  changes,  how 
much  more  can  a  longer  period  effect!  So  that  I  think,  should 
they  who  departed  this  life  a  thousand  years  ago  return  to  their 
cities,  they  would  believe  them  to  be  occupied  by  a  foreign 
people,  so  different  would  the  language  be  from  theirs.  Of  this 
I  shall  speak  elsewhere  more  fully,  in  a  book  which  I  intend  to 
write,  God  willing,  on  Vulgar  Eloquence.1 

VII.  4.  .  .  .  The  Latin  could  only  have  explained  them 
[the  canzoni]  to  scholars;  for  the  rest  would  not  have  understood 
it.  Therefore,  as  among  those  who  desire  to  understand  them 
there  are  many  more  illiterate  than  learned,  it  follows  that  the 
Latin  would  not  have  fulfilled  this  behest  as  well  as  the  vulgar 
tongue,  which  is  understood  both  by  the  learned  and  the  un- 
learned. Also  the  Latin  would  have  explained  them  to  people 
of  other  nations,  such  as  Germans,  English,  and  others;  in  doing 
which  it  would  have  exceeded  their  order.2    For  it  would  have 

i  The  date  of  the  composition  of  the  De  Vulgari  Eloquerdia  is  unknown, 
but  there  are  reasons  for  assigning  the  work  to  the  same  period  in  the  au- 
thor's life  as  the  Convito.    Like  the  Convito,  it  was  left  incomplete;  four  books 


language 

probably  to  command  the  attention  of  scholars  whom  Dante  hoped  to  con- 
vert to  the  use  of  the  vernacular. 

2  The  author  conceives  of  the  canzoni  as  masters  and  the  commentaries 
as   servants. 


DANTe's  DEFENSE  OF  ITALIAN  AS  A  LITERARY  LANGUAGE    449 

been  against  their  will  I  say,  speaking  generally,  to  have  ex- 
plained their  meaning  where  their  beauty  could  not  go  with  it. 
Translations       And,    moreover,    let    all    observe    that    nothing 

cannot  pre-         harmonized  by  the  laws  of  the  Muses 1   can  be 

serve  the  lit-  . 

erary  splendor    changed   from   its   own   tongue   to   another   one 

of  the  originals  wjthout  destroying  all  its  sweetness  and  har- 
mony. And  this  is  the  reason  why  Homer  is  not  turned  from 
Greek  into  Latin  like  the  other  writings  we  have  of  theirs  [the 
Greeks];  2  and  this  is  why  the  verses  of  the  Psalter  3  lack  musical 
sweetness  and  harmony;  for  they  have  been  translated  from 
Hebrew  to  Greek,  and  from  Greek  to  Latin,  and  in  the  first 
translation  all  this  sweetness  perished. 

IX.  1.  .  .  .  The  Latin  would  not  have  served  many;  be- 
cause, if  we  recall  to  mind  what  has  already  been  said,  scholars 
in  other  languages  than  the  Italian  could  not  have  availed  them- 
selves of  its  service.4  And  of  those  of  this  speech  (if  we  should 
care  to  observe  who  they  are)  we  shall  find  that  only  to  one  in  a 
thousand  could  it  really  have  been  of  use;  because  they  would 
not  have  received  it,  so  prone  are  they  to  base  desires,  and  thus 
deprived  of  that  nobility  of  soul  which  above  all  desires  this 
food.  And  to  their  shame  I  say  that  they  are  not  worthy  to  be 
called  scholars,  because  they  do  not  pursue  learning  for  its  own 
sake,  but  for  the  money  or  the  honors  that  they  gain  thereby; 
just  as  we  should  not  call  him  a  lute-player  who  kept  a  lute  in  the 
house  to  hire  out,  a^tid  not  to  play  upon. 

X.  5.  Again,  I  am  impelled  to  defend  it  [the  vulgar  tongue] 
from  many  of  its  accusers,  who  disparage  it  and  commend  others, 
above  all  the  language  of  Oco,5  saying  that  the  latter  is  better  and 

1  That  is,  any  poetical  composition. 

2  Some  students  of  Dante  hold  that  this  phrase  about  Homer  should  be 
rendered  "  does  not  admit  of  being  turned";  but  others  take  it  in  the  absolute 
sense  and  base  on  it  an  argument  against  Dante's  knowledge  of  Greek  literature. 

3  The  Book  of  Psalms. 

4  The  canzoni  were  in  Italian  and  a  Latin  commentary  would  have  been 
useless  to  scholars  of  other  nations,  because  they  could  not  have  understood 
the  canzoni  to  which  it  referred. 

5  The  Provencal  language — the  peculiar  speech  of  southeastern  France, 
whence  comes  the  name  Languedoc.    Oc  is  the  affirmative  particle  "yes." 

Med.  Hist.— 29 


450  THE   BEGINNINGS  OF  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

more  beautiful  than  the  former,  wherein  they  depart  from  the 
truth.  Wherefore  by  this  commentary  shall  be  seen  the  great 
The  Italian  of  excellence  of  the  vulgar  tongue  of  Si,1  because 
celtence  than"  (although  the  highest  and  most  novel  concep- 
other  tongues  tions  can  be  almost  as  fittingly,  adequately,  and 
beautifully  expressed  in  it  as  in  the  Latin)  its  excellence  in 
rhymed  pieces,  on  account  of  the  accidental  adornments  con- 
nected with  them,  such  as  rhyme  and  rhythm,  or  ordered  num- 
bers, cannot  be  perfectly  shown;  as  it  is  with  the  beauty  of  a 
woman,  when  the  splendor  of  her  jewels  and  her  garments  draw 
more  admiration  than  her  person.2  Wherefore  he  who  would 
judge  a  woman  truly  looks  at  her  when,  unaccompanied  by  any 
accidental  adornment,  her  natural  beauty  alone  remains  to  her; 
so  shall  it  be  with  this  commentary,  wherein  shall  be  seen  the 
facility  of  its  language,  the  propriety  of  its  diction,  and  the  sweet 
discourse  it  shall  hold;  which  he  who  considers  well  shall  see  to 
be  full  of  the  sweetest  and  most  exquisite  beauty.  But  because 
it  is  most  virtuous  in  its  design  to  show  the  futility  and  malice 
of  its  accuser,  I  shall  tell,  for  the  confounding  of  those  who  attack 
the  Italian  language,  the  purpose  which  moves  them  to  do  this; 
and  upon  this  I  shall  now  write  a  special  chapter,  that  their 
infamy  may  be  the  more  notorious. 

XI.  1.  To  the  perpetual  shame  and  abasement  of  those  wicked 
men  of  Italy  who  praise  the  language  of  others  and  disparage 
Why  people  of  their  own,  I  would  say  that  their  motive  springs 
despise  their  fr°m  nve  abominable  causes.  The  first  is  in- 
native  tongue  tellectual  blindness;  the  second,  vicious  excuses; 
the  third,  greed  of  vain-glory;  the  fourth,  an  argument  based  on 
envy;  the  fifth  and  last,  littleness  of  soul,  that  is,  pusillanimity. 
And  each  of  these  vices  has  so  large  a  following,  that  few  are 
they  who  are  free  from  them.     .     .     . 

1  Si  is  the  Italian  affirmative  particle.  In  the  Inferno  Dante  refers  to 
Italy  as  "that  lovely  country  where  the  si  is  sounded"  (XXX.,  80). 

2  That  is,  prose  shows  the  true  beauty  of  a  language  more  effectively  than 
poetry,  in  which  the  attention  is  distracted  by  the  ornaments  of 


DANTE'S  DEFENSE  OF  ITALIAN  AS  A  LITERARY  LANGUAGE    451 

3.  The  second  kind,  work  against  our  language  by  vicious 
excuses.  These  are  they  who  would  rather  be  considered  mas- 
ters than  be  such;  and,  to  avoid  the  reverse  (that  is,  not  to  be 
considered  masters),  they  always  lay  the  blame  upon  the  ma- 
terials prepared  for  their  art,  or  upon  their  tools;  as  the  bad 
The  unskilful  smith  blames  the  iron  given  him,  and  the  bad 
?aStaTt©  Qh*  lute"Player  blames  the  lute,  thinking  thus  to  lay 
language  the  fault  of  the  bad  knife  or  the  bad  playing 

upon  the  iron  or  the  lute,  and  to  excuse  themselves.  Such  are 
they  (and  they  are  not  few)  who  wish  to  be  considered  orators; 
and  in  order  to  excuse  themselves  for  not  speaking,  or  for  speak- 
ing badly,  blame  and  accuse  their  material,  that  is,  their  own 
language,  and  praise  that  of  others  in  which  they  are  not  re- 
quired to  work.  And  whoever  wishes  to  see  wherein  this  tool 
[the  vulgar  tongue]  deserves  blame,  let  him  look  at  the  work 
that  good  workmen  have  done  with  it,  and  he  will  recognize  the 
viciousness  of  those  who,  laying  the  blame  upon  it,  think  they 
excuse  themselves.  Against  such  does  Tullius  exclaim,  in  the 
beginning  of  one  of  his  books  called  De  Finibus,1  because  in  his 
time  they  blamed  the  Latin  language  and  commended  the  Greek, 
for  the  same  reasons  that  these  people  consider  the  Italian  vile 
and  the  Provencal  precious. 

XII.  3.  That  thing  is  nearest  to  a  person  which  is,  of  all 
things  of  its  kind,  the  most  closely  related  to  himself;  thus  of 
all  men  the  son  is  nearest  to  the  father,  and  of  all  arts  medicine 
is  nearest  to  the  doctor,  and  music  to  the  musician,  because  these 
are  more  closely  related  to  them  than  any  others;  of  all  countries, 
People  should    the  one  a  man  lives  in  is  nearest  to  him,  because  it 

use  their  own     js  most  closely  related  to  him.    And  thus  a  man's 

language,  as  J 

being  most  nat-  own  language   is  nearest  to   him,  because  most 

ura  o  em  dosely  related,  being  that  one  which  comes  alone 
and  before  all  others  in  his  mind,  and  not  only  of  itself  is  it  thus 

1  The  author  refers  to  Cicero's  philosophical  treatise  De  Finibus  Bonorum 
et  Malorum. 


452  THE    BEGINNINGS   OF  THE   ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

related,  but  by  accident,  inasmuch  as  it  is  connected  with  those 
nearest  to  him,  such  as  his  kinsmen,  and  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
his  own  people.  And  this  is  his  own  language,  which  is  not  only 
near,  but  the  very  nearest,  to  every  one.  Because  if  proximity 
be  the  seed  of  friendship,  as  has  been  stated  above,  it  is  plain 
that  it  has  been  one  of  the  causes  of  the  love  I  bear  my  own 
language,  which  is  nearer  to  me  than  the  others.  The  above- 
named  reason  (that  is,  that  we  are  most  nearly  related  to  that 
which  is  first  in  our  mind)  gave  rise  to  that  custom  of  the  people 
which  makes  the  firstborn  inherit  everything,  as  the  nearest  of 
kin;  and,  because  the  nearest,  therefore  the  most  beloved. 

4.  And  again,  its  goodness  makes  me  its  friend.  And  here 
we  must  know  that  every  good  quality  properly  belonging  to  a 
thing  is  lovable  in  that  thing;  as  men  should  have  a  fine  beard, 
and  women  should  have  the  whole  face  quite  free  from  hair;  as 
the  foxhound  should  have  a  keen  scent,  and  the  greyhound 
great  speed.  And  the  more  peculiar  this  good  quality,  the  more 
lovable  it  is,  whence,  although  all  virtue  is  lovable  in  man,  that 
is  most  so  which  is  most  peculiarly  human.  .  .  .  And  we 
The  Italian  see  ^na^^  °f  a^  things  pertaining  to  language,  the 
fulfils  the  high-  power  of  adequately  expressing  thought  is  the 
est  require-         *~  H  J        KT\T     .      *         .    .. 

ment  of  a  Ian-    most  loved  and  commended ;  therefore  this  is  its 

guage  peculiar  virtue.     And  as  this  belongs  to  our  own 

language,  as  has  been  proved  above  in  another  chapter,  it  is 
plain  that  this  was  one  of  the  causes  of  my  love  for  it;  since, 
as  we  have  said,  goodness  is  one  of  the  causes  that  engender 
love. 

80.  Dante's  Conception  of  the  Imperial  Power 

The  best  known  prose  work  of  Dante,  the  De  Monorchia,  is  perhaps 
the  most  purely  idealistic  political  treatise  ever  written.  Its  quality 
of  idealism  is  so  pronounced,  in  fact,  that  there  is  not  even  sufficient 
mention  of  contemporary  men  or  events  to  assist  in  solving  the  wholly 
unsettled  problem  of  the  date  of  its  composition.  The  De  Monorchia  is 
composed  of  three  books,  each  of  which  is  devoted  to  a  fundamental 


dante's  conception  of  the  imperial  power       453 

question  in  relation  to  the  balance  of  temporal  and  spiritual  authority. 
The  first  question  is  whether  the  temporal  monarchy  is  necessary  for 
the  well-being  of  the  world.  The  answer  is  that  it  is  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  justice,  freedom,  and  unity  and  effectiveness  of  human 
effort.  The  second  question  is  whether  the  Roman  people  took  to  itself 
this  dignity  of  monarchy,  or  empire,  by  right.  By  a  survey  of  Roman 
history  from  the  days  of  iEneas  to  those  of  Csesar  it  is  made  to  appear 
that  it  was  God's  will  that  the  Romans  should  rule  the  world.  The 
third  question  is  the  most  vital  of  all  and  its  answer  constitutes  the  pith 
of  the  treatise.  In  brief  it  is,  does  the  authority  of  the  Roman  monarch, 
or  emperor,  who  is  thus  by  right  the  monarch  of  the  world,  depend  im- 
mediately upon  God,  or  upon  some  vicar  of  God,  the  successor  of  Peter? 
This  question  Dante  answers  first  negatively  by  clearing  away  the  fa- 
miliar defenses  of  spiritual  supremacy,  and  afterwards  positively,  by 
bringing  forward  specific  arguments  for  the  temporal  superiority.  The 
selection  given  below  comprises  the  most  suggestive  portions  of  Dante's 
treatment  of  this  aspect  of  his  subject.  The  method,  it  will  be  observed, 
is  quite  thoroughly  scholastic.  Whenever  the  De  Monarchia  was  com- 
posed, it  remained  all  but  unknown  until  after  the  author's  death  (1321) ; 
but  with  the  renewal  of  conflict  between  papacy  and  imperial  power  the 
imperialists  were  not  slow  to  make  use  of  the  treatise,  and  by  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century  it  had  become  known  throughout  Europe,  being 
admired  by  one  party  as  much  as  it  was  abhorred  by  the  other.  At 
various  times  copies  of  it  were  burned  as  heretical  and  in  the  sixteenth 
century  it  was  placed  by  the  Roman  authorities  upon  the  Index  of  Pro- 
hibited Books.  Few  literary  productions  of  the  later  Middle  Ages  ex- 
ercised greater  influence  upon  contemporary  thought  and  politics. 

Source — Dante  Alighieri,  De  Monarchia  ["Concerning  Monarchy"],  Bk.  III., 
Chaps.  1-16  passim.  Translated  by  Aurelia  Henry  (Boston,  1904), 
pp.   137-206  passim. 

I.  2.  The  question  pending  investigation,  then,  concerns  two 
great  luminaries,  the  Roman  Pontiff  [Pope]  and  the  Roman 
Prince  [Emperor];  and  the  point  at  issue  is  whether  the  authority 
The  problem  to  °f  tne  Roman  monarch,  who,  as  proved  in  the 
be  considered  second  book,  is  rightful  monarch  of  the  world, 
is  derived  from  God  directly,  or  from  some  vicar  or  minister  of 


454  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

God,  by  whom  I  mean  the  successor  of  Peter,  indisputable 
keeper  of  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

IV.  1.  Those  men  to  whom  the  entire  subsequent  discussion 
is  directed  assert  that  the  authority  of  the  Empire  depends  on 
the  authority  of  the  Church,  just  as  the  inferior  artisan  depends 
on  the  architect.  They  are,  drawn  to  this  by  divers  opposing 
arguments,  some  of  which  they  take  from  Holy  Scripture,  and 
some  from  certain  acts  performed  by  the  chief  pontiff,  and  by 
the  Emperor  himself;  and  they  endeavor  to  make  their  convic- 
tion reasonable. 

2.  For,  first,  they  maintain  that,  according  to  Genesis,  God 
made  two  mighty  luminaries,  a  greater  and  a  lesser,  the  former 
to  hold  supremacy  by  day  and  the  latter  by  night  [Gen.,  i.  15,  16]. 
These  they  interpret  allegorically  to  be  the  two  rulers — spiritual 
The  analogy  anc*  temPoral-1  Whence  they  argue  that  as  the 
of  the  sun  lesser  luminary,  the  moon,  has  no  light  but  that 

gained  from  the  sun,  so  the  temporal  ruler  has 
no  authority  but  that  gained  from  the  spiritual  ruler. 

8.  I  proceed  to  refute  the  above  assumption  that  the  two 
luminaries  of  the  world  typify  its  two  ruling  powers.  The  whole 
force  of  their  argument  lies  in  the  interpretation;  but  this  we 
can  prove  indefensible  in  two  ways.  First,  since  these  ruling 
powers  are,  as  it  were,  accidents  necessitated  by  man  himself, 
God  would  seem  to  have  used  a  distorted  order  in  creating  first 
accidents,  and  then  the  subject  necessitating  them.  It  is  absurd 
to  speak  thus  of  God,  but  it  is  evident  from  the  Word  that  the 
two  lights  were  created  on  the  fourth  day,  and  man  on  the  sixth. 

9.  Secondly,  the  two  ruling  powers  exist  as  the  directors  of 
men  toward  certain  ends,  as  will  be  shown  further  on.  But  had 
man  remained  in  the  state  of  innocence  in  which  God  made  him, 
he  would  have  required  no  such  direction.     These  ruling  powers 

i  For  example,  Pope  Innocent  IV.  (1243-1254)  declared:  "Two  lights, 
the  sun  and  the  moon,  illumine  the  globe;  two  powers,  the  papal  and  the 
royal,  govern  it;  but  as  the  moon  receives  her  light  from  the  more  brilliant 
star,  so  kings  reign  by  the  chief  of  the  Church,  who  comes  from  God." 


455 

are  therefore  remedies  against  the  infirmity  of  sin.  Since  on 
the  fourth  day  man  was  not  only  not  a  sinner,  but  was  not  even 
An  abstruse  existent,  the  creation  of  a  remedy  would  have  been 
bit  of  mediae-  purposeless,  which  is  contrary  to  divine  goodness. 
Foolish  indeed  would  be  the  physician  who 
should  make  ready  a  plaster  for  the  abscess  of  a  man  not  yet  born. 
Therefore  it  cannot  be  asserted  that  God  made  the  two  ruling 
powers  on  the  fourth  day;  and  consequently  the  meaning  of 
Moses  cannot  have  been  what  it  is  supposed  to  be. 

10.  Also,  in  order  to  be  tolerant,  we  may  refute  this  fallacy 
by  distinction.  Refutation  by  distinction  deals  more  gently  with 
an  adversary,  for  it  shows  him  to  be  not  absolutely  wrong,  as 
does  refutation  by  destruction.  I  say,  then,  that  although  the 
moon  may  have  abundant  light  only  as  she  receives  it  from  the 
sun,  it  does  not  follow  on  that  account  that  the  moon  herself 
owes  her  existence  to  the  sun.  It  must  be  recognized  that  the 
essence  of  the  moon,  her  strength,  and  her  function,  are  not  one 
and  the  same  thing.  Neither  in  her  essence,  her  strength,  nor 
her  function  taken  absolutely,  does  the  moon  owe  her  existence 
to  the  sun,  for  her  movement  is  impelled  by  her  own  force  and 
her  influence  by  her  own  rays.  Besides,  she  has  a  certain  light 
of  her  own,  as  is  shown  in  eclipse.  It  is  in  order  to  fulfill  her 
function  better  and  more  potently  that  she  borrows  from  the 
sun  abundance  of  light,  and  works  thereby  more  effectively. 

11.  In  like  manner,  I  say,  the  temporal  power  receives  from 
the  spiritual  neither  its  existence,  nor  its  strength,  which  is  its 
authority,  nor  even  its  function,  taken  absolutely.  But  well 
Why  the  argu-  for  her  does  she  receive  therefrom,  through  the 
sun1  an^Umoon  ^&ht  of  grace  which  the  benediction  of  the  chief 
fails  pontiff  sheds  upon  it  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
strength  to  fulfill  her  function  more  perfectly.  So  the  argu- 
ment was  at  fault  in  form,  because  the  predicate  of  the  conclu- 
sion is  not  a  term  of  the  major  premise,  as  is  evident.  The 
syllogism  runs  thus:  The  moon  receives  light  from  the  sun,  which 


456  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

is  the  spiritual  power;  the  temporal  ruling  power  is  the  moon; 
therefore  the  temporal  receives  authority  from  the  spiritual. 
They  introduce  " light"  as  the  term  of  the  major,  but  "au- 
thority" as  predicate  of  the  conclusion,  which  two  things  we 
have  seen  to  be  diverse  in  subject  and  significance. 

VIII.  1.  From  the  same  gospel  they  quote  the  saying  of 
Christ  to  Peter,  "  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven"  [Matt.,  xvi.  19],  and  understand  this  saying 
to  refer  alike  to  all  the  Apostles,  according  to  the  text  of  Matthew 
and  John  [Matt.,  xviii.  18  and  John,  xx.  23].  They  reason  from 
Argument  ^is  that  the  successor  of  Peter  has  been  granted 

from  the  pre-  of  God  power  to  bind  and  loose  all  things,  and 
rogative  of  the     .         .   .      ,,    A  .. '  .  .      . 

keys  commit-      then  infer  that  he  has  power  to  loose  the  laws 

ted  to  Peter  ancj  decrees  0f  the  Empire,  and  to  bind  the  laws 
and  decrees  of  the  temporal  kingdom.  Were  this  true,  their 
inference  would  be  correct. 

2.  But  we  must  reply  to  it  by  making  a  distinction  against 
the  major  premise  of  the  syllogism  which  they  employ.  Their 
syllogism  is  this:  Peter  had  power  to  bind  and  loose  all  things; 
the  successor  of  Peter  has  like  power  with  him;  therefore  the 
successor  of  Peter  has  power  to  loose  and  bind  all  things.  From 
this  they  infer  that  he  has  power  to  loose  and  bind  the  laws  and 
decrees  of  the  Empire. 

3.  I  concede  the  minor  premise,  but  the  major  only  with  dis- 
tinction. Wherefore  I  say  that  "all,"  the  symbol  of  the  uni- 
versal which  is  implied  in  "whatsoever,"  is  never  distributed 
beyond  the  scope  of  the  distributed  term.  When  I  say,  "  All  ani- 
mals run,"  the  distribution  of  "all"  comprehends  whatever 
comes  under  the  genus  "animal."  But  when  I  say,  "All  men 
run,"  the  symbol  of  the  universal  refers  only  to  whatever  comes 
under  the  term  "man."  And  when  I  say,  "All  grammarians 
run,"  the  distribution  is  narrowed  still  further. 

4.  Therefore  we  must  always  determine  what  it  is  over  which 
the  symbol  of  the  universal  is  distributed;  then,  from  the  recog- 


dante's  conception  of  the  imperial  power       457 

nized  nature  and  scope  of  the  distributed  term,  will  be  easily 
apparent  the  extent  of  the  distribution.  Now,  were  "  what- 
soever" to  be  understood  absolutely  when  it  is  said,  "  Whatso- 
ever thou  shalt  bind,"  he  would  certainly  have  the  power  they 
claim;  nay,  he  would  have  even  greater  power — he  would  be  able 
to  loose  a  wife  from  her  husband,  and,  while  the  man  still  lived, 
bind  her  to  another — a  thing  he  can  in  nowise  do.  He  would 
be  able  to  absolve  me,  while  impenitent — a  thing  which  God 
Himself  cannot  do. 

5.  So  it  is  evident  that  the  distribution  of  the  term  under 
discussion  is  to  be  taken,  not  absolutely,  but  relatively  to  some- 
thing else.  A  consideration  of  the  concession  to  which  the  dis- 
tribution is  subjoined  will  make  manifest  this  related  some- 
Dante's  inter-  thing.  Christ  said  to  Peter,  "  I  will  give  unto 
the  Scripture  *nee  tne  keys  °*  tne  kingdom  of  heaven;"  that 
in  question  \8j  I  will  make  thee  doorkeeper  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Then  He  adds,  "and  whatsoever,"  that  is,  "every- 
thing which,"  and  He  means  thereby,  "Everything  which  per- 
tains to  that  office  thou  shalt  have  power  to  bind  and  loose." 
And  thus  the  symbol  of  the  universal  which  is  implied  in  "what- 
soever" is  limited  in  its  distribution  to  the  prerogative  of  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Understood  thus,  the  proposi- 
tion is  true,  but  understood  absolutely,  it  is  obviously  not. 
Therefore  I  conclude  that,  although  the  successor  of  Peter  has 
authority  to  bind  and  loose  in  accordance  with  the  requirements 
of  the  prerogative  granted  to  Peter,  it  does  not  follow,  as  they 
claim,  that  he  has  authority  to  bind  and  loose  the  decrees  or 
statutes  of  empire,  unless  they  prove  that  this  also  belongs  to 
the  office  of  the  keys.  But  further  on  we  shall  demonstrate  that 
the  contrary  is  true. 

XIII.  1.  Now  that  we  have  stated  and  rejected  the  errors  on 
which  those  chiefly  rely  who  declare  that  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  Prince  is  dependent  on  the  Roman  Pontiff,1  we  must 

i  The  arguments  disposed  of  by  the  author,  in  addition  to  those  treated 


458  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

return  and  demonstrate  the  truth  of  that  question  which  we 
propounded  for  discussion  at  the  beginning.  The  truth  will  be 
evident  enough  if  it  can  be  shown,  under  the  principle  of  inquiry 
agreed  upon,  that  imperial  authority  derives  immediately  from 
the  summit  of  all  being,  which  is  God.  And  this  will  be  shown, 
whether  we  prove  that  imperial  authority  does  not  derive  from 
that  of  the  Church  (for  the  dispute  concerns  no  other  authority) , 
or  whether  we  prove  simply  that  it  derives  immediately  from 
God. 

2.  That  ecclesiastical  authority  is  not  the  source  of  imperial 
authority  is  thus  verified.  A  thing  non-existent,  or  devoid  of 
active  force,  cannot  be  the  cause  of  active  force  in  a  thing  possess- 
ing that  quality  in  full  measure.  But  before  the  Church  existed, 
or  while  it  lacked  power  to  act,  the  Empire  had  active  force  in 
The  Church        ^u^  measure.     Hence  the  Church  is  the  source, 

(or  papacy)  is     neither  of  acting  power  nor  of  authority  in  the 

not  the  source 

of  imperial  au-    Empire,  where  power  to  act  and  authority  are 

thority  identical.     Let  A  be  the  Church,  B  the  Empire, 

and  C  the  power  or  authority  of  the  Empire.  If,  A  being  non- 
existent, C  is  in  B,  the  cause  of  C's  relation  to  B  cannot  be  A, 
since  it  is  impossible  that  an  effect  should  exist  prior  to  its 
cause.  Moreover,  if,  A  being  inoperative,  C  is  in  B,  the  cause  of 
C's  relation  to  B  cannot  be  A,  since  it  is  indispensable  for  the 
production  of  effect  that  the  cause  should  be  in  operation  previ- 
ously, especially  the  efficient  cause  which  we  are  considering 
here. 

3.  The  major  premise  of  this  demonstration  is  intelligible 

from  its  terms;  the  minor  is  confirmed  by  Christ  and  the  Church. 

Christ  attests  it,  as  we  said  before,  in  His  birth  and  death.    The 

Church  attests  it  in  Paul's  declaration  to  Festus  in  the  Acts  of 

in  the  passages  here  presented,  are:  the  precedence  of  Levi  over  Judah 
(Gen.,  xxix.  34,  35),  the  election  and  deposition  of  Saul  by  Samuel  (1  Sam., 
x.  1;  xv.  23;  xv.  28),  the  oblation  of  the  Magi  (Matt,,  ii.  11),  the  two 
swords  referred  to  by  Peter  (Luke,  xxii.  38),  the  donation  of  Constantine, 
the  .summoning  of  Charlemagne  by  Pope  Hadrian,  and  finally  the  argument 
from  pure  reason. 


dante's  conception  of  the  imperial  power       459 

the  Apostles:  "I  stand  at  Caesar's  judgment  seat,  where  I  ought 

to  be  judged''  [Acts,  xxv.  10];  and  in  the  admonition  of  God's 

Earlv  Chris-        angel  to  Paul  a  little  later:    "Fear  not,   Paul; 

tian  recogni-       thou  must  be  brought  before  Caesar"  [Acts,  xxvii. 

tion  of  the  au-    _._  .         .         .„  t  ■  _     ,. 

thority  of  the     24];  and  again,  still  later,  in  Pauls  words  to  the 

Emperor  Jews  dwelling  in  Italy :  "  And  when  the  Jews  spake 

against  it,  I  was  constrained  to  appeal  unto  Caesar;  not  that  I 
had  aught  to  accuse  my  nation  of,"  but  "that  I  might  deliver 
my  soul  from  death"  [Acts,  xxviii.  19].  If  Caesar  had  not 
already  possessed  the  right  to  judge  temporal  matters,  Christ 
would  not  have  implied  that  he  did,  the  angel  would  not  have 
uttered  such  words,  nor  would  he  who  said,  "I  desire  to  depart 
and  be  with  Christ"  [Phil.,  i.  23],  have  appealed  to  an  un- 
qualified judge. 

XIV.  1.  Besides,  if  the  Church  has  power  to  confer  authority 
on  the  Roman  Prince,  she  would  have  it  either  from  God,  or 
from  herself,  or  from  some  Emperor,  or  from  the  unanimous 
consent  of  mankind,  or,  at  least,  from  the  consent  of  the  most 
influential.  There  is  no  other  least  crevice  through  which  the 
power  could  have  diffused  itself  into  the  Church.  But  from 
none  of  these  has  it  come  to  her,  and  therefore  the  aforesaid 
power  is  not  hers  at  all. 

XVI.  1.  Although  by  the  method  of  reduction  to  absurdity 
it  has  been  shown  in  the  foregoing  chapter  that  the  authority  of 
empire  has  not  its  source  in  the  Chief  Pontiff,  yet  it  has  not  been 
fully  proved,  save  by  an  inference,  that  its  immediate  source 
is  God,  seeing  that  if  the  authority  does  not  depend  on  the  vicar 
of  God,  we  conclude  that  it  depends  on  God  Himself.  For  a 
perfect  demonstration  of  the  proposition  we  must  prove  directly 
that  the  Emperor,  or  Monarch,  of  the  world  has  immediate 
relationship  to  the  Prince  of  the  universe,  who  is  God. 

2.  In  order  to  realize  this,  it  must  be  understood  that  man 
alone  of  all  beings  holds  the  middle  place  between  corruptibility 
and  incorruptibility,  and  is  therefore  rightly  compared  by  phi- 


460  THE   BEGINNINGS  OF  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

losophers  to  the  horizon  which  lies  between  the  two  hemispheres. 
Man  may  be  considered  with  regard  to  either  of  his  essential 
Positive  argu-  parts,  body  or  soul.  If  considered  in  regard  to 
authority  of        the  body  alone,  he  is  perishable;  if  in  regard  to 

the  emperor  is   ^he  soui  aione  he  is  imperishable.      So  the  Phi- 
derived  direct-  ^ 
ly  from  God        losopher  1  spoke  well  of  its  incorruptibility  when 

he  said  in  the  second  book,  On  the  Soul,  "  And  this  only  can  be 

separated  as  a  thing  eternal  from  that  which  perishes.' ' 

3.  If  man  holds  a  middle  place  between  the  perishable  and  the 
imperishable,  then,  inasmuch  as  every  man  shares  the  nature  of 
the  extremes,  man  must  share  both  natures.  And  inasmuch  as 
every  nature  is  ordained  for  a  certain  ultimate  end,  it  follows 
that  there  exists  for  man  a  two-fold  end,  in  order  that  as  he  alone 
of  all  beings  partakes  of  the  perishable  and  the  imperishable,  so 
he  alone  of  all  beings  should  be  ordained  for  two  ultimate  ends. 
One  end  is  for  that  in  him  which  is  perishable,  the  other  for  that 
which  is  imperishable. 

4.  Omniscient  Providence  has  thus  designed  two  ends  to  be 
contemplated  by  man:  first,  the  happiness  of  this  life,  which  con- 
Double  aspect  s^s^s  m  the  activity  of  his  natural  powers,  and  is 
of  human  life  prefigured  by  the  terrestrial  Paradise;  and  then 
the  blessedness  of  life  everlasting,  which  consists  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  countenance  of  God,  to  which  man's  natural  powers 
may  not  obtain  unless  aided  by  divine  light,  and  which  may  be 
symbolized  by  the  celestial  Paradise.2 

5.  To  these  states  of  blessedness,  just  as  to  diverse  conclusions, 
man  must  come  by  diverse  means.  To  the  former  we  come  by 
the  teachings  of  philosophy,  obeying  them  by  acting  in  conformity 
with  the  moral  and  intellectual  virtues;  to  the  latter,  through 
spiritual  teachings  which  transcend  human  reason,  and  which 
we  obey  by  acting  in  conformity  with  the  theological  virtues, 


i  This  was  the  common  mediaeval  designation  of  Aristotle. 
2  For  Dante's  conception  of  the  terrestrial  and  the  celestial  paradis 
the  Paradiso  in  the  Divina  Commedia. 


461 

faith,  hope,  and  charity.  Now  the  former  end  and  means  are 
made  known  to  us  by  human  reason,  which  the  philosophers 
have  wholly  explained  to  us;  and  the  latter  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  has  revealed  to  us  supernatural  but  essential  truth  through 
the  prophets  and  sacred  writers,  through  Jesus  Christ,  the  coeter- 
nal  Son  of  God,  and  through  His  disciples.  Nevertheless,  human 
passion  would  cast  these  behind,  were  not  man,  like  horses 
astray  in  their  brutishness,  held  to  the  road  by  bit  and  rein. 

6.  Wherefore  a  twofold  directive  agent  was  necessary  to  man, 
in  accordance  with  the  twofold  end;  the  Supreme  Pontiff  to  lead 
the  human  race  to  life  eternal  by  means  of  revelation,  and  the 
Emperor  to  guide  it  to  temporal  well-being  by  means  of  philo- 
sophic instruction.  And  since  none  or  few — and  these  with  ex- 
The  proper  ceeding  difficulty — could  attain  this  port,  were 
PopVand  Em-  no*  ^ne  waves  °f  seductive  .desire  calmed,  and 
peror  mankind  made  free  to  rest  in  the  tranquillity  of 
peace,  therefore  this  is  the  goal  which  he  whom  we  call  the 
guardian  of  the  earth  and  Roman  Prince  should  most  urgently 
seek;  then  would  it  be  possible  for  life  on  this  mortal  threshing- 
floor  to  pass  in  freedom  and  peace.  The  order  of  the  world  fol- 
lows the  order  inherent  in  the  revolution  of  the  heavens.  To 
attain  this  order  it  is  necessary  that  instruction  productive  of 
liberality  and  peace  should  be  applied  by  the  guardian  of  the 
realm,  in  due  place  and  time,  as  dispensed  by  Him  who  is  the 
ever-present  Watcher  of  the  whole  order  of  the  heavens.  And 
He  alone  foreordained  this  order,  that  by  it,  in  His  providence, 
He  might  link  together  all  things,  each  in  its  own  place. 

7.  If  this  is  so,  and  there  is  none  higher  than  He,  only  God 
elects  and  only  God  confirms.  Whence  we  may  further  con- 
clude that  neither  those  who  are  now,  nor  those  who  in  any  way 
whatsoever  have  been,  called  electors 1  have  the  right  to  be  so 

1  These  were  the  lay  and  ecclesiastical  princes  in  whom  was  vested  the 
right  of  choosing  the  Emperor.  The  electoral  college  was  first  clearly  defined 
in  the  Golden  Bull  issued  by  Charles  IV.  in  1356  [see  p.  409].  Its  composition 
in  Dante's  time  is  uncertain. 


462  THE   BEGINNINGS  OF  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

called;  rather  should  they  be  entitled  heralds  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. Whence  it  is  that  those  in  whom  is  vested  the  dignity 
of  proclamation  suffer  dissension  among  themselves  at  times, 
when,  all  or  part  of  them  being  shadowed  by  the  clouds  of 
passion,  they  discern  not  the  face  of  God's  dispensation. 

8.  It  is  established,  then,  that  the  authority  of  temporal 
monarchy  descends  without  mediation  from  the  fountain  of 
universal  authority.  And  this  fountain,  one  in  its  purity  of 
source,  flows  into  multifarious  channels  out  of  the  abundance 
of  its  excellence. 

9.  I  believe  I  have  now  approached  sufficiently  close  to  the  goal 
I  had  set  myself,  for  I  have  taken  the  kernels  of  truth  from  the 
husks  of  falsehood,  in  that  question  which  asked  whether  the 
office  of  monarchy  was  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  world,  and 
in  the  next  which  made  inquiry  whether  the  Roman  people 
rightfully  appropriated  the  empire,  and  in  the  last  which  sought 
whether  the  authority  of  the  monarch  derived  from  God  directly, 
or  from  some  other.  But  the  truth  of  this  final  question  must 
not  be  restricted  to  mean  that  the  Roman  Prince  shall  not  be 
The  ideal  re-  subject  m  some  degree  to  the  Roman  Pontiff,  for 
lation  of  the       well-being  that  is  mortal  is  ordered  in  a  measure 

after  well-being  that  is  immortal.  Wherefore  let 
Caesar  honor  Peter  as  a  first-born  son  should  honor  his  father, 
so  that,  brilliant  with  the  light  of  paternal  grace,  he  may  illumine 
with  greater  radiance  the  earthly  sphere  over  which  he  has  been 
set  by  Him  who  alone  is  Ruler  of  all  things  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral.1 
-/  81.   Petrarch's  Love  of  the  Classics 

Francesco  Petrarca  was  born  at  Arezzo  in  northern  Italy  in  July, 
1304.  His  father  was  a  Florentine  notary  who  had  been  banished  by 
the  same  decree  with  Dante  in  1302,  and  who  finally  settled  at  Avignon 

i  Dante's  ideal  solution  was  the  harmonious  rule  of  the  two  powers  by 
the  acknowledgment  of  filial  relationship  between  pope  and  emperor,  on 
the  basis  of  a  recognition  of  the  different  and  essentially  irreconcilable 
character  of  their  functions. 


Petrarch's  love  of  the  classics  463 

in  1313  to  practice  his  profession  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  papal  court. 
Petrarch  was  destined  by  his  father  for  the  law  and  was  sent  to  study 
that  subject  at  Montppl1^  and  subsequently  at  .Bologna*  But  from  the 
moment  when  he  first  got  hold  of  the  Latin  classics,  notably  Cicero  and 
Vergil,  he  found  his  interest  in  legal  subjects  absolutely  at  an  end.  He 
was  charmed  by  the  literary  power  of  the  ancients,  as  he  certainly  was 
not  by  the  logic  and  learning  of  the  jurists,  and  though  his  father  en- 
deavored to  discourage  what  he  regarded  as  a  sheer  waste  of  time  by 
burning  the  young  enthusiast's  precious  Latin  books,  the  love  of  the 
classics,  once  aroused,  was  never  crushed  out  and  the  literary  instinct 
remained  dominant.  Jhft  bfg^nn^ng^-n.Uj^>  Renaissance  spirit,  which 
are  so  discernible  in  Dante,  become  in  Petrarch  the  full  expression  of 
the  new  age.  In  the  words  of  Professor  Adams,  "In  him  we  clearly 
find,  as  controlling  personal  traits,  all  those  specific  features  of  the  Re- 
naissance which  give  it  its  distinguishing  character  as  an  intellectual 
revolution,  and  from  their  strong  beginning  in  him  they  have  never 
ceased  among  men.  In  the  first  place,  he  felt  as  no  other  man  had  done 
since  the  ancient  days  the  beauty  of  nature  and  the  pleasure  of  mere 
life,  its  sufficiency  for  itself ;  and  he  had  also  a  sense  of  ability  and  power, 
and  a  self-confidence  which  led  him  to  plan  great  things,  and  to  hope 
for  an  immortality  of  fame  in  this  world.  In  the  second  place,  he  had 
a  most  keen  sense  of  the  unity  of  past  history,  of  the  living  bond  of  con- 
nection between  himself  and  men  of  like  sort  in  the  ancient  world.  That 
world  was  for  him  no  dead  antiquity,  but  he  lived  and  felt  in  it  and  with 
its  poets  and  thinkers,  as  if  they  were  his  neighbors.  His  love  for  it 
amounted  almost,  if  we  may  call  it  so,  to  an  ecstatic  enthusiasm,  hardly 
understood  by  his  own  time,  but  it  kindled  in  many  others  a  similar 
feeling  which  has  come  down  to  us.  The  result  is  easily  recognized  in 
him  as  a  genuine  culture,  the  first  of  modern  men  in  whom  this  can  be 
found.  .  .  .  Finally,  Petrarch  first  put  the  modern  spirit  into  con- 
scious opposition  to  the  mediaeval.  The  Renaissance  meant  rebellion 
and  revolution.  It  meant  a  long  and  bitter  struggle  against  the  whole 
scholastic  system,  and  all  the  follies  and  superstitions  which  flourished 
under  its  protection.  Petrarch  opened  the  attack  along  the  whole  line. 
Physicians,  lawyers,  astrologers,  scholastic  philosophers,  the  universities 
— all  were  enemies  of  the  new  learning,  and  so  his  enemies.  And  these 
attacks  were  not    in  set  and  formal  polemics  alone,  his  letters  and 


464  THE   BEGINNINGS   OP  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

almost  all  his  writings  were  filled  with  them.  It  was  the  business  of 
his  life."1 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  Petrarch  enjoyed  the  highest  renown 
throughout  Europe.  The  cities  of  Italy,  especially,  vied  with  one  another 
in  showering  honors  upon  him.  A  decree  of  the  Venetian  senate  af- 
firmed that  no  Christian  poet  or  philosopher  could  be  compared  with  him. 
Arezzo,  the  town  of  his  birth,  awarded  him  a  triumphal  procession. 
Florence  bought  the  estates  once  confiscated  from  his  father  and  begged 
him  to  accept  them  as  a  meager  gift  to  one  "who  for  centuries  had  no 
equal  and  could  scarcely  find  one  in  the  ages  to  come."  The  climax 
came  in  1341  when  both  the  University  of  Paris  and  the  Roman  Senate 
invited  him  to  present  himself  and  receive  the  poet's  crown,  in  revival 
of  an  old  and  all  but  forgotten  ceremony  of  special  honor.  The  invitation 
from  Rome  was  accepted  and  the  celebration  attending  the  coronation 
was  one  of  the  most  splendid  of  the  age.  In  1350  Petrarch  became 
acquainted  with  Boccaccio  and  thenceforth  there  existed  the  warmest 
friendship  between  these  two  great  exponents  of  Renaissance  ideals  and 
achievement.  In  1369  he  retired  to  Arqua,  near  Padua,  where  he  died 
in   1374. 

Besides  his  poems  Petrarch  wrote  a  great  number  of  letters,  some  in 
Latin  and  some  in  Italian.  Letter-writing  was  indeed  a  veritable  passion 
with  him ;  and  he  not  only  wrote  freely  but  was  careful  to  preserve  copies 
of  what  he  wrote.  His  prose  correspondence  has  been  classified  in  four 
divisions.  The  largest  one  comprises  three  hundred  forty-seven  letters, 
written  between  the  years  1332  and  1362,  and  given  the  general  title  of 
De  Rebus  Familiaribus,  because  in  them  only  topics  presumably  of  every- 
day interest  were  discussed  and  without  particular  attention  to  style. 
The  second  group,  the  so-called  Epistolce  Varice,  numbers  about  seventy. 
The  third,  the  Epistolce  de  Rebus  Senilibus  ("Letters  of  Old  Age"),  in- 
cludes one  hundred  twenty-four  letters  written  during  the  last  twelve 
years  of  the  poet's  life.  The  fourth,  comprising  about  twenty  letters, 
was  made  up  of  epistles  containing  such  sharp  criticism  of  the  papal 
regime  at  Avignon  that  the  author  thought  it  best  to  suppress  the  names 
of  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  Their  general  designation, 
therefore,  is  Epistolce  sine  Titulo.  The  following  passages  are  taken  from 
a  letter  found  in  the  Epistolce  Varice.    It  was  written  to  a  literary  friend, 

i  George  B.  Adams,  Mediaeval  Civilization  (New  York,  1904),  pp.  375-377. 


petrarch's  love  of  the  classics  465 

August  18, 1360,  while  Petrarch  was  at  Milan,  uncertain  whither  the  polit- 
ical storms  of  the  period  would  finally  drive  him.  In  the  portion  which 
precedes  that  given  below  the  writer  has  been  commenting  on  various 
invitations  which  had  reached  him  from  friends  in  Padua,  Florence, 
and  even  beyond  the  Alps.  This  gives  him  occasion  to  lament  the 
unsettled  conditions  of  his  times  and  to  voice  the  longing  of  the  scholar 
for  peace  and  quiet.  Thence  he  proceeds  to  speak  of  matters  which 
reveal  in  an  interesting  way  his  passionate  love  for  the  beauties  of  classical 
literature  and  his  sympathy  with  its  dominant  ideas.  Cicero  was  his 
favorite  Latin  author;  after  him,  Vergil  and  Ovid.  Greek  literature, 
unfortunately,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  know  at  first  hand.  In  spite 
of  a  lifelong  desire,  and  at  least  one  determined  effort  (which  is  referred 
to  in  the  letter  below),  he  never  acquired  even  a  rudimentary  reading 
knowledgeof  the  Greek  language.  At  best  he  could  only  read  fragments 
of  Homer,  Plato,  and  Aristotle  in  extremely  faulty  Latin  translations.1 


Source — Franciscus  Petrarca,  Epistolce  de  Rebus  Familiaribus  et  Varice 
["Letters  of  Friendly  Intercourse,  and  Miscellaneous  Letters"], 
edited  by  J.  Fracassetti  (Florence,  1869),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  364-371. 
Adapted  from  translation  in  Merrick  Whit  comb,  Source  Book  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance  (Philadelphia,  1903),  pp.  14-21  passim. 

If  you  should  ask  me,  in  the  midst  of  these  opinions  of  my 
friends,  what  I  myself  think  of  the  matter,  I  can  only  reply  that 
I  long  for  a  place  where  solitude,  leisure,  repose,  and  silence 
reign,  however  far  from  wealth  and  honors,  power  and  favors. 
But  I  confess  I  know  not  where  to  find  it.  My  own  secluded 
nook,  where  I  have  hoped  not  only  to  live,  but  even  to  die,  has 
lost  all  the  advantages  it  once  possessed,  even  that  of  safety. 
Petrarch's  I  call  to  witness  thirty  or  more  volumes,  which 

peaceand1  *   *e^    there   recently,    thinking   that    no    place 

seclusion  could  be  more  secure,  and  which,  a  little  later, 

having  escaped  from  the  hands  of  robbers  and  returned,  against 

1  "There  was  no  apparatus  for  the  study  of  Greek  at  that  time.  Oral 
instruction  from  Greek  or  Byzantine  scholars  was  the  only  possible  means 
of  access  to  the  great  writers  of  the  past.  Such  instruction  was  difficult  to 
secure,  as  Petrarch's  efforts  and  failure  prove." — Robinson  and  Rolfe, 
Petrarch,  p.  237. 

Med.  Hist,— 30 


466  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF  THE   ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

all  hope,  to  their  master,  seem  yet  to  blanch  and  tremble  and 
show  upon  their  foreheads  the  troubled  condition  of  the  place 
whence  they  have  escaped.  Therefore  I  have  lost  all  hope  of 
revisiting  this  charming  retreat,  this  longed-for  country  spot. 
Still,  if  the  opportunity  were  offered  me,  I  should  seize  it  with 
both  hands  and  hold  it  fast.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  still 
possess'  a  glimmer  of  hope,  or  am  feigning  it  for  self-deception, 
and  to  feed  my  soul's  desire  with  empty  expectation. 

But  I  proceed,  remembering  that  we  had  much  conversation  on 
this  point  last  year,  when  we  lived  together  in  the  same  house,  in 
this  very  city  [Milan];  and  that  after  having  examined  the  matter 
most  carefully,  in  so  far  as  our  light  permitted,  we  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  while  the  affairs  of  Italy,  and  of  Europe,  remain 
in  this  condition,  there  is  no  place  safer  and  better  for  my 
needs  than  Milan,  nor  any  place  that  suits  me  so  well.  We 
made  exception  only  of  the  city  of  Padua,  whither  I  went 
D  b  k  f  shortly  after  and  whither  I  shall  soon  return; 
even  Milan  not  that  I  may  obliterate  or  diminish — that  I 
should  not  wish — but  that  I  may  soften  the 
regret  which  my  absence  causes  the  citizens  of  both  places.  I 
know  not  whether  you  have  changed  your  opinion  since  that 
time;  but  for  me  I  am  convinced  that  to  exchange  the  tumult 
of  this  great  city  and  its  annoyances  for  the  annoyances  of 
another  city  would  bring  me  no  advantage,  perhaps  some  in- 
convenience, and  beyond  a  doubt,  much  fatigue.  Ah,  if  this 
tranquil  solitude,  which,  in  spite  of  all  my  seeking,  I  never 
find,  as  I  have  told  you,  should  ever  show  itself  on  any  side, 
you  will  hear,  not  that  I  have  gone,  but  that  I  have  flown,  to 
it.     .     .     . 

In  the  succeeding  paragraph  of  your' letter  you  jest  with  much 
elegance,  saying  that  I  have  been  wounded  by  Cicero  without 
having  deserved   it,   on  account   of  our  too  great  intimacy.1 

iThis  is  a  humorous  allusion  to  the  fact  that  Petrarch  had  recently  re- 
ceived an  injury  from  the  fall  of  a  heavy  volume  of  Cicero's  Letters. 


467 

"Because,"  you  say,  "those  who  are  nearest  to  us  most  often 

injure  us,  and  it  is  extremely  rare  that  an  Indian  does  an  injury 

Common  ^°  a  Spaniard."    True  it  is.    It  is  on  this  account 

indifference        that  in  reading  of  the  wars  of  the  Athenians 

to  people  and 

events  near  at    and  Lacedaemonians,  and  in  contemplating  the 

hand  troubles  of  our  own  people  with  our  neighbors, 

we  are  never  struck  with  astonishment;  still  less  so  at  the  sight 
of  the  civil  wars  and  domestic  troubles  which  habit  has  made 
of  so  little  account  that  concord  itself  would  more  easily  cause 
surprise.  But  when  we  read  that  the  king  of  Scythia  has  come 
to  blows  with  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  that  Alexander  of  Mace- 
donia has  penetrated  to  the  ends  of  India,  we  experience  a  sensa- 
tion of  astonishment  which  the  reading  of  our  histories,  filled 
as  they  are  with  the  deeds  of  Roman  bravery  in  their  distant 
expeditions,  does  not  afford.  You  bring  me  consolation,  in 
representing  me  as  having  been  wounded  by  Cicero,  to  whom  I 
am  fondly  attached,  a  thing  that  would  probably  never  happen 
to  me,  at  the  hands  of  either  Hippocrates  l  or  Albumazar.2  .  . 
You  ask  me  to  lend  you  the  copy  of  Homer  that  was  on  sale  at 
Padua,  if,  as  you  suppose,  I  have  purchased  it  (since,  you  say,  I 
have  for  a  long  time  possessed  another  copy)  so  that  our  friend 

A  reauest  "^eo  3  may  translate  ^   from  Greek  into   Latin 

for  a  copy  for  your  benefit  and  for  the  benefit  of  our  other 

studious  compatriots.  I  saw  this  book,  but 
neglected  the  opportunity  of  acquiring  it,  because  it  seemed 
inferior  to  my  own.  It  can  easily  be  had  with  the  aid  of  the 
person  to  whom  I  owe  my  friendship  with  Leo;  a  letter  from 
that  source  would  be  all-powerful  in  the  matter,  and  I  will  my- 
self write  him. 

If  by  chance  the  book  escape  us,  which  seems  to  be  very 
unlikely,  I  will  let  you  have  mine.  I  have  been  always  fond  of 
this  particular  translation  and  of  Greek  literature  in  general, 

1  A  renowned  Greek  physician  of  the  fifth  century  b.  c. 

2  A  famous  Arabian  astronomer  of  the  ninth  century  a.  d. 

3  Leo  Pilatus,  a  translator. 


468  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF  THE   ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE 

and  if  fortune  had  not  frowned  upon  my  beginnings,  in  the  sad 
death  of  my  excellent  master,  I  should  be  perhaps  to-day  some- 
Fondness  thing  more  than  a  Greek  still  at  his  alphabet.    I 

for  Greek  approve   with   all   my   heart   and  strength  your 

literature  »      T  ,  .    ,. 

enterprise,  for  1  regret  and  am  indignant  that  an 

ancient  translation,  presumably  the  work  of  Cicero,  the  com- 
mencement of  which  Horace  inserted  in  his  Ars  Poetica,1  should 
have  been  lost  to  the  Latin  world,  together  with  many  other 
works.  It  angers  me  to  see  so  much  solicitude  for  the  bad  and 
so  much  neglect  of  the  good.  But  what  is  to  be  done?  We 
must  be  resigned.     .     .     . 

I  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  of  warning  you  of  one  thing, 
lest  later  on  I  should  regret  having  passed  it  over  in  silence. 
If,  as  you  say,  the  translation  is  to  be  made  literally  in  prose, 
listen  for  a  moment  to  the  opinion  of  St.  Jerome  as  expressed  in 
his  preface  to  the  book,  De  Temporibus,  by  Eusebius  of  Caesarea, 
which  he  translated  into  Latin.2  Here  are  the  very  words  of  this 
great  man,  well  acquainted  with  these  two  languages,  and  indeed 
with  many  others,  and  of  special  fame  for  his  art  of  translating: 
Difficulty  //  any  one,  he  says,  refuses  to  believe  that  transla- 

wotksotSt^  ^on  lessens  Me  peculiar  charm  of  the  original,  let 
erature  him  render  Homer  into  Latin,  word  for  word;  I 

will  say  further,  let  him  translate  it  into  prose  in  his  own  tongue, 
and  he  will  see  a  ridiculous  array  and  the  most  eloquent  of  poets 
transformed  into  a  stammerer.  I  tell  you  this  for  your  own  good, 
while  it  is  yet  time,  in  order  that  so  important  a  work  may  not 
prove  useless.    As  for  me,  I  wish  the  work  to  be  done,  whether 

i  Quintus  Horatius  Flaccus  (65-8  b.  c),  one  of  the  literary  lights  of  the 
Augustan  Age,  was  a  younger  contemporary  of  Cicero.    His  Ars  Poetica  was 


a  didactic  poem  setting  forth  the  correct  principles  of  poetry  as  an  art. 

"  'efb 

Scriptures   was  the   Editio    Vulgata    (tne  Edition   Commonly  Received), 


2  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Cesaraea  in  Palestine,  is  noted  chiefly  as  the  author 

Hi 

it! 

tat 

_jyaM__- 

Hebrew  and  Greek  into  the  Latin  language.     The  resulting  form  of  the 


of  an  Ecclesiastical  History  which  is  injnany  ways  our  most  important  source 

He  lived  at 
irth  century 
most  commonly  associated  with  the  translation  of  the  Bible  from  the  original 


.  iv  unnstian  unurcn.    He  lived  about  250-339.    St. 
Jerome  was  a  great  Church  father  of  the  later  fourth  century.      His  name  is 


whence  our  English  term  "Vulgate. 


Petrarch's  letter  to  posterity  469 

well  or  ill.  I  am  so  famished  for  literature  that  just  as  he  who  is 
ravenously  hungry  is  not  inclined  to  quarrel  with  the  cook's 
art,  so  I  await  with  a  lively  impatience  whatever  dishes  are  to  be 
set  before  my  soul.  And  in  truth,  the  morsel  in  which  the  same 
Leo,  translating  into  Latin  prose  the  beginning  of  Homer,  has 
Loneine-  for  given  me  a  foretaste  of  the  whole  work,  although 
the  transla-  it  confirms  the  sentiment  of  St.  Jerome,  does  not 
displease  me.  It  possesses,  in  fact,  a  secret  charm, 
as  certain  viands,  which  have  failed  to  take  a  moulded  shape, 
although  they  are  lacking  in  form,  preserve  nevertheless  their 
taste  and  odor.  May  he  continue  with  the  aid  of  Heaven,  and 
may  he  give  us  Homer,  who  has  been  lost  to  us! 

In  asking  of  me  the  volume  of  Plato  which  I  have  with  me, 
and  which  .escaped  the  fire  at  my  transalpine  country  house, 
you  give  me  proof  of  your  ardor,  and  I  shall  hold  this  book  at 
A  loan  of  a  your  disposal,  whenever  the  time  shall  come, 
volume  of  I  wish  to  aid  with  all  my  power  such  noble  enter- 

prises. But  beware  lest  it  should  be  unbecoming 
to  unite  in  one  bundle  these  two  great  princes  of  Greece,  lest 
the  weight  of  these  two  spirits  should  overwhelm  mortal  shoulders. 
Let  your  messenger  undertake,  with  God's  aid,  one  of  the  two, 
and  first  him  who  has  written  many  centuries  before  the  other. 
Farewell. 

82.   Petrarch's  Letter  to  Posterity 

The  following  is  a  letter  of  Petrarch  addressed,  by  a  curious  whim,  to 
Posterity.  It  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  the  poet's  opinion  of  himself  and 
reveals  the  sort  of  things  that  interested  the  typical  man  of  culture  in 
the  early  Renaissance  period.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  in 
the  year  1370,  when  Petrarch  had  completed  the  sixty-sixth  year  of 
his  life.  The  letter  betrays  a  longing  for  individual  fame  which  was 
common  in  classical  times  and  during  the  Renaissance,  but  not  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 


470  THE    BEGINNINGS   OF   THE    ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

Source — Franciscus  Petr&rea,,  Epistolce  de  Rebus  FamUiaribua  d  Varva ["Let- 
ters of  Friendly  Intercourse,  and  Miscellaneous  Letters"],  edited  by 
J.  Fracassetti  (Florence,  1869),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  1-11.  Translated  in 
James  H.  Robinson  and  Henry  W.  Rolfe,  Petrarch,  the  First  Modern 
Scholar  and  Man  of  Letters  (New  York,  1898),  pp.  59-76  passim. 

Francis  Petrarch,  to  Posterity,  greeting: 

It  is  possible  that  some  word  of  me  may  have  come  to  you, 
though  even  this  is  doubtful,  since  an  insignificant  and  obscure 
name  will  scarcely  penetrate  far  in  either  time  or  space.  If, 
however,  you  should  have  heard  of  me,  you  may  desire  to  know 
what  manner  of  man  I  was,  or  what  was  the  outcome  of  my 
labors,  especially  those  of  which  some  description  or,  at  any 
rate,  the  bare  titles  may  have  reached  you. 

To  begin,  then,  with  myself.  The  utterances  of  men  concern- 
ing me  will  differ  widely,  since  in  passing  judgment  almost  every 
one  is  influenced  not  so  much  by  truth  as  by  preference,  and  good 
and  evil  report  alike  know  no  bounds.  I  was,  in  truth,  a  poor 
Petrarch's  mortal  like  yourself,  neither  very  exalted  in  my 

early  life  origin,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  most  hum- 

ble birth,  but  belonging,  as  Augustus  Caesar  says  of  himself, 
to  an  ancient  family.  As  to  my  disposition,  I  was  not  naturally 
perverse  or  wanting  in  modesty,  however  the  contagion  of  evil 
associations  may  have  corrupted  me. 

My  youth  was  gone  before  I  realized  it ;  I  was  carried  away  by 
the  strength  of  manhood.  But  a  riper  age  brought  me  to  my 
senses  and  taught  me  by  experience  the  truth  I  had  long  before 
read  in  books,  that  youth  and  pleasure  are  vanity — nay,  that 
the  Author  of  all  ages  and  times  permits  us  miserable  mortals, 
puffed  up  with  emptiness,  thus  to  wander  about,  until  finally, 
coming  to  a  tardy  consciousness  of  our  sins,  we  shall  learn  to 
know  ourselves. 

In  my  prime  I  was  blessed  with  a  quick  and  active  body,  al- 
Physical  though  not  exceptionally  strong;  and  while  I  do 

appearance  not  lay  claim  to  remarkable  personal  beauty,  I 
was  comely  enough  in  my  best  days.     I  was  possessed  of  a  clear 


Petrarch's  letter  to  posterity  471 

complexion,  between  light  and  dark,  lively  eyes,  and  for  long 
years  a  keen  vision,  which,  however,  deserted  me,  contrary  to 
my  hopes,  after  I  reached  my  sixtieth  birthday,  and  forced 
me,  to  my  great  annoyance,  to  resort  to  glasses.1  Although  I  had 
previously  enjoyed  perfect  health,  old  age  brought  with  it  the 
usual  array  of  discomforts. 

My  parents  were  honorable  folk,  Florentine  in  their  origin,  of 
medium  fortune,  or,  I  may  as  well  admit  it,  in  a  condition  verging 
upon  poverty.  They  had  been  expelled  from  their  native  city,2 
and  consequently  I  was  born  in  exile,  at  Arezzo,  in  the  year  1304 
of  this  latter  age,  which  begins  with  Christ's  birth,  July  the  20th, 
on  a  Monday,  at  dawn.  I  have  always  possessed  an  extreme 
contempt  for  wealth;  not  that  riches  are  not  desirable  in  them- 
selves, but  because  I  hate  the  anxiety  and  care  which  are  in- 
variably associated  with  them.  I  certainly  do  not  long  to  be 
able  to  give  gorgeous  banquets.  I  have,  on  the  contrary,  led  a 
_    f  f       happier  existence  with  plain  living  and  ordinary 

plain  and  sen-  fare  than  all  the  followers  of  Apicius,3  with  their 
elaborate  dainties.  So-called  convivia,  which 
are  but  vulgar  bouts,  sinning  against  sobriety  and  good  manners, 
have  always  been  repugnant  to  me.  I  have  ever  felt  that  it  was 
irksome  and  profitless  to  invite  others  to  such  affairs,  and  not 
less  so  to  be  ^bidden  to  them  myself.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
pleasure  of  dining  with  one's  friends  is  so  great  that  nothing 
has  ever  given  me  more  delight  than  their  unexpected  arrival, 
nor  have  I  ever  willingly  sat  down  to  table  without  a  companion. 
Nothing  displeases  me  more  than  display,  for  not  only  is  it  bad 

1  Eyeglasses  were  but  beginning  to  come  into  use  in  Petrarch's  day. 

2  Petrarch's  father  and  Dante  were  banished  from  Florence  upon  the  same 
day,  January  27,  1302  [see  p.  446]. 

3  Marcus  Gavius  Apicius  was  a  celebrated  epicure  of  the  time  of  Augustus 
and  Tiberius.  He  was  the  author  of  a  famous  cook-book  intended  for  the 
gratification  of  high-livers.  Though  worth  a  fortune,  he  was  haunted  by  a 
fear  of  starving  to  death  and  eventually  poisoned  himself  to  escape  such  a 
fate.  There  was  another  Apicius  in  the  third  century  who  compiled  a 
well-known  collection  of  recipes  for  cooking,  in  ten  books,  entitled  De  Rp 
Coquinaria.     It  is  not  quite  clear  which  Apicius  Petrarch  had  in  mind. 


472  THE   BEGINNINGS   OF   THE   ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

in  itself  and  opposed  to  humility,  but  it  is  troublesome  and  dis- 
tracting. 

In  my  familiar  associations  with  kings  and  princes,  and  in 
my  friendship  with  noble  personages,  my  good  fortune  has  been 
such  as  to  excite  envy.  But  it  is  the  cruel  fate  of  those  who 
Intimacy  with  are  growing  old  that  they  can  commonly  only 
renowned  men  weep  for  friends  who  have  passed  away.  The 
greatest  kings  of  this  age  have  loved  and  courted  me.  They 
may  know  why;  I  certainly  do  not.  With  some  of  them  I  was 
on  such  terms  that  they  seemed  in  a  certain  sense  my  guests 
rather  than  I  theirs;  their  lofty  position  in  no  way  embarrassing 
me,  but,  on  the  contrary,  bringing  with  it  many  advantages. 
I  fled,  however,  from  many  of  those  to  whom  I  was  greatly  at- 
tached; and  such  was  my  innate  longing  for  liberty  that  I 
studiously  avoided  those  whose  very  name  seemed  incompatible 
with  the  freedom  that  I  loved. 

I  possessed  a  well-balanced  rather  than  a  keen  intellect — 
one  prone  to  all  kinds  of  good  and  wholesome  study,  but  es- 
pecially inclined  to  moral  philosophy  and  the  art  of  poetry. 
The  latter,  indeed,  I  neglected  as  time  went  on,  and  took  de- 
light in  sacred  literature.  Finding  in  that  a  hidden  sweetness 
which  I  had  once  esteemed  but  lightly,  I  came  to  regard  the 
works  of  the  poets  as  only  amenities. 

Among  the  many  subjects  that  interested  me,  I  dwelt  es- 
pecially upon  antiquity,  for  our  own  age  has  always  repelled  me, 
Admiration  so  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  love  of  those 
for  antiquity  dear  to  me,  I  should  have  preferred  to  have  been 
born  in  any  other  period  than  our  own.  In  order  to  forget  my 
own  time,  I  have  constantly  striven  to  place  myself  in  spirit 
in  other  ages,  and  consequently  I  delighted  in  history.  The 
conflicting  statements  troubled  me,  but  when  in  doubt  I  ac- 
cepted what  appeared  most  probable,  or  yielded  to  the  authority 
of  the  writer. 

My  style,  as  many  claimed,  was  clear  and  forcible;  but  to 


petrarch's  letter  to  posterity  473 

me  it  seemed  weak  and  obscure.  In  ordinary  conversation  with 
friends,  or  with  those  about  me,  I  never  gave  thought  to  my  lan- 
guage, and  I  have  always  wondered  that  Augustus  Caesar  should 
Att't  d    t  have  taken  such  pains  in  this  respect.     When, 

ward  liter-  however,  the  subject  itself,  or  the  place  or  the 

ary  s  y  e  listener,  seemed  to  demand  it,  I  gave  some  at- 

tention to  style,  with  what  success  I  cannot  pretend  to  say; 
let  them  judge  in  whose  presence  I  spoke.  If  only  I  have  lived 
well,  it  matters  little  to  me  how  I  talked.  Mere  elegance  of 
language  can  produce  at  best  but  an  empty  renown.     .     . 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

FORESHADOWINGS  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

83.   The  Reply  of  Wyclif  to  the  Summons  of  Pope  Urban  VI.  (1384) 

The  fourteenth  century  was  an  era  of  religious  decline  in  England, 
as  indeed  more  or  less  generally  throughout  western  Europe.  The  pa- 
pacy was  at  its  lowest  ebb,  unable  to  command  either  respect  or  obedi- 
ence, except  among  the  clergy  and  certain  of  the  common  people ;  bishops 
and  abbots  had  grown  wealthy  and  worldly  and  were  often  utterly  neg- 
lectful of  their  religious  obligations;  and  among  the  masses  the  serv- 
ices of  worship  had  frequently  become  mere  hollow  formalities.  There 
were  still  many  good  men  in  the  Church,  men  who  in  an  unpretentious 
way  sought  to  do  their  duty  faithfuliy ;  but  of  large  numbers — possibly 
the  majority — of  both  the  higher  and  lower  clergy  this  could  not  be  said. 
The  dissatisfaction  of  the  people  with  industrial  conditions  which 
prompted  the  uprising  of  1381  was  accompanied  by  an  almost  equal 
discontent  with  the  shortcomings  of  the  selfish  and  avaricious  clergy. 
It  was  harder,  of  course,  to  arouse  men  to  an  active  hostility  to  the 
existing  ecclesiastical  system  than  to  the  industrial  regime,  because  the 
Church  still  maintained  a  very  close  hold  upon  the  sentiments  and  at- 
tachments of  the  average  individual.  Still,  there  were  people  here  and 
there  who  were  outspoken  for  reform,  and  chief  among  these  was  John 
Wyclif. 

Wyclif  was  born  in  Yorkshire  about  1320  and  was  educated  at  Oxford, 
where  in  time  he  became  a  leading  teacher.  He  was  one  of  those  who 
saw  clearly  the  evils  of  the  times  and  did  not  lack  the  courage  to  speak 
out  plainly  against  them.  As  early  as  1366  he  had  denounced  the  claims 
of  the  papacy,  in  a  pamphlet,  De  Dominio  Divino,  declaring  that  the 
pope  ought  to  have  no  authority  whatsoever  over  states  and  govern- 
ments. This  position  he  never  yielded  and  it  became  one  of  the  cardinal 
features  of  his  teaching.  He  attacked  the  clergy  for  their  wealth,  their 
self-seeking,  and  their  subservience  to  the  pope,  and  hurled  denunciation 

474 


SUMMONS   OF  POPE   URBAN   VI.  475 

at  the  whole  body  of  friars  and  vendors  of  indulgences  with  whom  Eng- 
land was  thronged.  He  even  assailed  the  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
particularly  as  to  transubstantiation,  the  efficacy  of  confession  to  priests, 
and  the  nature  of  the  sacraments.  His  teachings  were  very  acceptable  to 
large  numbers  of  people  who  were  disgusted  with  existing  conditions, 
and  hence  he  soon  came  to  have  a  considerable  body  of  followers,  known 
as  the  Lollards,  who,  though  not  regularly  organized  into  a  sect,  carried 
on  in  later  times  the  work  which  Wyclif  and  his '  »poor  priests  "  had  begun. 
In  1377  Pope  Gregory  XI.  issued  a  bull  in  which  he  roundly  condemned 
Wyclif  and  reproved  the  University  of  Oxford  for  not  taking  active  steps 
to  suppress  the  growing  heresy;  but  it  had  little  or  no  effect.  In  1378 
Gregory  died  and  two  popes  were  elected  to  succeed  him — Clement  VII. 
at  Avignon  and  Urban  VI.  at  Rome  [see  p.  389].  The  Schism  that 
resulted  prevented  further  action  for  a  time  against  Wyclif.  In  England, 
however,  the  uprising  of  1381  aroused  the  government  to  the  expediency 
of  suppressing  popular  agitators,  and  in  a  church  council  at  London, 
May  19,  1382,  Wyclif's  doctrines  were  formally  condemned.  In  1383 
Oxford  was  compelled  to  banish  all  the  Lollards  from  her  walls  and  by 
the  time  of  Wyclifs  death  in  1384  the  new  belief  seemed  to  be  pretty 
thoroughly  suppressed.  In  reality  it  lived  on  by  the  more  or  less  secret 
attachment  of  thousands  of  people  to  it,  and  became  one  of  the  great 
preparatory  forces  for  the  English  Reformation  a  century  and  a  half 
later.  The  document  given  below  is  a  modernized  version  of  a  letter 
written  by  Wyclif  to  Pope  Urban  VI.  in  1384  in  response  to  a  summons 
to  appear  at  Rome  to  be  tried  for  heresy.  The  letter  was  written  in 
Latin  and  the  English  translation  (given  below)  prepared  by  the  writer's 
followers  for  distribution  among  Englishmen  represents  somewhat  of  an 
enlargement  of  the  original  document.  When  Wyclif  wrote  the  letter 
he  was  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  and  was  so  disabled  by  paralysis  that 
a  journey  to  Rome  was  quite  impossible. 


Source — Text  in  Thomas  Arnold,  Select  English  Works  of  John  Wyclif 
(Oxford,  1869),  Vol.  III.,  pp.  504-506.  Adapted,  with  modernized 
spelling,  in  Guy  Carleton  Lee,  Source  Book  of  English  History  (New 
York,  1900),  pp.  212-214. 

I  have  joyfully  to  tell  what  I  hold,  to  all  true  men  that  be- 
lieve, and  especially  to  the  pope;  for  I  suppose  that  if  my  faith  be 


476  FORESHADOWINGS  OF  THE   REFORMATION 

rightful  and  given  of  God,  the  pope  will  gladly  confirm  it;  and 
if  my  faith  be  error,  the  pope  will  wisely  amend  it. 

I  suppose  over  this  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  be  heart  of  the 
corps  [body]  of  God's  law;  for  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ,  that 
gave  in  His  own  person  this  gospel,  is  very  God  and  very  man, 
and  by  this  heart  passes  all  other  laws. 

I  suppose  over  this  that  the   pope  be  most  obliged  to  the 

keeping  of  the  gospel  among  all  men  that  live  here;  for  the  pope  is 

m,  ,  highest  vicar  that  Christ  has  here  in  earth.    For 

The  pope  s 

high  obliga-  moreness  of  Christ's  vicar  is  not  measured  by 
worldly  moreness,  but  by  this,  that  this  vicar 
follows  more  Christ  by  virtuous  living;  for  thus  teacheth  the 
gospel,  that  this  is  the  sentence  of  Christ. 

And  of  this  gospel  I  take  as  believe,  that  Christ  for  time  that 
He  walked  here,  was  most  poor  man  of  all,  both  in  spirit  and  in 
having  [possessions];  for  Christ  says  that  He  had  nought  for  to 
rest  His  head  on.  And  Paul  says  that  He  was  made  needy  for 
Christ's  earthly  our  love.  And  more  poor  might  no  man  be, 
poverty  neither  bodily  nor  in  spirit.     And  thus  Christ  put 

from  Him  all  manner  of  worldly  lordship.  For  the  gospel  of  John 
telleth  that  when  they  would  have  made  Christ  king,  He  fled 
and  hid  Him  from  them,  for  He  would  none  such  worldly  highness. 

And  over  this  I  take  it  as  believe,  that  no  man  should  follow 
the  pope,  nor  no  saint  that  now  is  in  heaven,  but  in  as  much  as  he 
[the  pope]  follows  Christ.  For  John  and  James  erred  when  they 
_      f  coveted  worldly  highness;  and  Peter  and   Paul 

ought  to  fol-  sinned  also  when  they  denied  and  blasphemed 
ow  e  pope  jn  Christ;  but  men  should  not  follow  them  in 
this,  for  then  they  went  from  Jesus  Christ.  And  this  I  take  as 
wholesome  counsel,  that  the  pope  leave  his  worldly  lordship  to 
The  pope  ex-  worldly  lords,  as  Christ  gave  them, — and  more 
up'tlmpor^6  speedily 'all  his  clerks  [clergy]  to  do  so.  For 
authority  thus  did  Christ,  and  taught  thus  His   disciples, 

till   the  fiend  [Satan]  had  blinded  this  world.     And  it  seems 


SUMMONS  OF   POPE   URBAN   VI.  477 

to  some  men  that  clerks  that  dwell  lastingly  in  this  error  against 
God's  law,  and  flee  to  follow  Christ  in  this,  been  open  heretics, 
and  their  fautors  [supporters]  been  partners. 

And  if  I  err  in  this  sentence,  I  will  meekly  be  amended  [cor- 
rected], yea,  by  the  death,  if  it  be  skilful  [necessary],  for  that  I 
hope  were  good  to  me.  And  if  I  might  travel  in  mine  own  person, 
I  would  with  good  will  go  to  the  pope.  But  God  has  needed  me 
to  the  contrary,  and  taught  me  more  obedience  to  God  than  to 
men.  And  I  suppose  of  our  pope  that  he  will  not  be  Antichrist, 
and  reverse  Christ  in  this  working,  to  the  contrary  of  Christ's 
will;  for  if  he  summon  against  reason,  by  him  or  by  any  of  his, 
The  pope  ano^  pursue  this  unskilful  summoning,  he  is  an 

should  not  de-  0pen  Antichrist.     And  merciful  intent  excused 

mand  what  is        r 

contrary  to  the   not  Peter,  that  Christ  should  not  clepe  [call]  him 

vine  wi  Satan;  so  blind  intent  and  wicked  counsel  ex- 

cuses not  the  pope  here;  but  if  he  ask  of  true  priests  that  they 
travel  more  than  they  may,  he  is  not  excused  by  reason  of  God, 
that  he  should  not  be  Antichrist.  For  our  belief  teaches  us  that 
our  blessed  God  suffers  us  not  to  be  tempted  more  than  we  may; 
how  should  a  man  ask  such  service?  And  therefore  pray  we  to 
God  for  our  Pope  Urban  the  Sixth,  that  his  old  [early]  holy  intent 
be  not  quenched  by  his  enemies.  And  Christ,  that  may  not  lie, 
says  that  the  enemies  of  a  man  been  especially  his  home  family; 
and  this  is  sooth  of  men  and  fiends. 


INDEX 


[Note — The  numbers  refer  to  pages.] 


Aachen,  Charlemagne's  capital,  108, 
110;  basilica  at,  113;  assembly  at, 
119;  capitulary  for  the  missi 
promulgated  from,  135;  in  terri- 
tory assigned  to  Lothair,  155. 

Abbeville,  English  and  French  ar- 
mies at,  427. 

Abbo,  account  of  siege  of  Paris, 
165,  168-171. 

Abbot,  character  and  duties  of,  de- 
fined in  Benedictine  Rule,  84-86. 

Abelard,  at  Paris,  340. 

Abu-Bekr,  Mohammed's  successor, 
97. 

Acta  Sanctorum,  quoted,  256-258. 

Adalbero,  archbishop  of  Rheims, 
177;  speech  at  Senlis,  178-179; 
urges  election  as  true  basis  of 
Frankish  kingship,  179;  opposes 
candidacy  of  Charles  of  Lower 
Lorraine,  179-180;  speaks  in  be- 
half of  Hugh  Capet,  180. 

Adrianople,  battle  of,  importance, 
37-38;  described  by  Ammianus 
Marcellinus,  38-41. 

iEgidius,  "king  of  the  Romans," 
50-51. 

jElfthryth,  daughter  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  187. 

Agincourt,  English  victory  at,  440. 

Agius,  bishop  of  Orleans,  167. 

Agriculture  among  the  early  Ger- 
mans, 21  ,  29. 

Aids,  nature  of,  222;  defined  by 
Norman  custom,  222-223;  speci- 
fied in   Great  Charter,  306-307. 

Ain  Tulut,  battle  of,  317. 

Aix-la-Chapelle  (see  Aachen). 

Alaf  [Alavivus],  a  Visigothic  chief- 
tain, 34. 


Alaric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  51; 
Syagrius  takes  refuge  with,  51; 
delivers  Syagrius  to  Clovis,  51; 
interview  with  Clovis,  54-55; 
defeated  and  slain  by  Clovis  near 
Poitiers,  56. 

Albar,  201. 

Alcuin,  brought  to  Charlemagne's 
court,  113;  in  the  Palace  School, 
144. 

Alemanni,  defeated  by  Clovis  at 
Strassburg,  53. 

Alessandria,  founded,  399. 

Alexander  II.,  approves  William 
the  Conqueror's  project  to  in- 
vade England,  234. 

Alexander  III.,  399. 

Alexander  V.,  elected  pope,  390. 

Alexius  Comnenus,  appeals  to  Ur- 
ban II.,  283. 

Alfonso  XL,  of  Castile,  421. 

Alfred  the  Great,  biography  by 
Asser,  181;  becomes  king  of  the 
English,  182;  fights  the  Danes  at 
Wilton,  182;  constructs  a  navy, 
183;  defeats  Danes  at  Swanwich, 
183;  in  refuge  at  Athelney,  184; 
meets  English  people  at  Egbert's 
stone,  184;  defeats  Danes  at 
Ethandune,  184;  peace  of  Guth- 
rum  and,  185;  negotiates  treaty 
of  Wedmore,  185;  interest  in 
education,  185;  literary  activity, 
186,  193;  care  for  his  children, 
187;  varied  pursuits,  187;  piety, 
188;  regret  at  lack  of  educa- 
tion, 189;  search  for  learned 
men,  190-191;  letter  to  Bishop 
Werfrith,  191-194;  laws,  194- 
195. 


479 


480 


INDEX 


Alith,  mother  of  St.  Bernard,  251- 
252. 

Alp  Arslan,  defeats  Eastern  em- 
peror at  Manzikert,  282. 

Amalric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  56. 

Amboise,  55. 

Ammianus  Marcellinus,  author  of  a 
Roman  History,  34;  facts  con- 
cerning life,  34;  quoted,  34-37, 
38-41,  43-46. 

Amusements,  of  the  early  Ger- 
mans, 30-31. 

Anagni,  Boniface  VIII.  taken  cap- 
tive at,  385. 

Angelo,  companion  of  St.  Francis, 
363. 

Angers,  Northmen  at,  167. 

Angilbert,  a  Carolingian  poet,  151. 

Angouleme,  captured  by  Clovis, 
56-57. 

Annales  Bertiniani,  scope,  165; 
quoted,  156,  165-168. 

Annales  Laureshamensis,  quoted, 
132-133. 

Annales  Laurissenses  Minor  es, 
quoted,  106-107. 

Annales  Xantenses,  quoted,  158- 
163. 

Annals,  origin  and  character  of, 
157-158. 

Annates,  defined,  389. 

Antioch,  crusaders  arrive  at,  293; 
siege  and  capture  of,  293-296. 

Apicius,  Marcus  Gavius,  471. 

Arabs,  overrun  Syria,  282. 

Arezzo,  Petrarch  born  at,  461,  464, 
471. 

Arianism,  adopted  by  Germans,  50 ; 
refuted  by  ordeal  of  hot  water, 
198-200. 

Aristotle,  Dante  cites,  460. 

Aries,  Council  of,  72. 

Armagnacs,  in  later  Hundred 
Years'  War,  440. 

Armenia,  crusaders  in,  293. 

Arnold  Atton,  forfeiture  of  fief, 
227-228. 

Arnold  of  Bonneval,  251. 

Arpent,  a  land  measure,  129. 


Arras,  treaty  of,  439. 

Arte  veld,  James  van,  connection 
with  Hundred  Years'  War,  422. 

Articles  of  the  Barons,  relation  to 
the  Great  Charter,  304. 

Asnapium,  inventory  of,  127-129. 

Assam,  conquered  by  the  crusaders, 
293. 

Assembly,  the  German,  26-27;  the 
Saxon,  123. 

Asser,  biography  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  181,  186. 

Assisi,  birth-place  of  St.  Francis, 
362-363. 

Athanaric,  a  Visigothic  chieftain, 
33-34. 

Athelney,  Alfred  in  refuge  at,  184. 

Augustine,  sent  to  Britain  by  Pope 
Gregory,  72-73;  constituted  ab- 
bot, 74;  lands  at  Thanet,  75; 
preaches  to  King  Ethelbert,  76; 
life  at  Canterbury,  77. 

Augustus,  32. 

Aurelian,  cedes  Dacia  to  the  Vis- 
igoths, 33. 

Ausculta  Fili,  issued  by  Boni- 
face VIII.,  384. 

Auvillars,  forfeited  by  Arnold  At- 
ton, 227. 

Avignon,  popes  resident  at,  389. 

Aylesford,  Horsa  slain  in  battle  at, 
71. 

Babylon  (Cairo),  St.  Louis  ad- 
vances on,  318. 

Babylonian  Captivity,  begins,  385, 
389. 

Ban,  of  the  emperor,  138. 

Basel,  Council  of,  391,  393. 

Battle  Abbey,  founded  by  William 
the  Conqueror,  242. 

Baugulf,  Charlemagne's  letter  to, 
145-148. 

Bavaria,  annexed  to  Charlemagne's 
kingdom,  115. 

Bayeux,  Odo,  bishop  of,  impris- 
oned, 243. 

Beatrice,  Dante's  love  affair  with, 
446. 


INDEX 


481 


Beauchamp,  William  de,  302. 

Beaumont,  birth  of  Froissart  at, 
418. 

Bede,  facts  regarding  life  of,  68; 
"Ecclesiastical  History  of  the 
English  People,"  68;  account  of 
the  Saxon  invasion,  69-72;  ac- 
count of  Augustine's  mission  to 
Britain,  73-77. 

Bedford,  castle  of,  English  barons 
at,  301-302. 

Bellona,  Roman  goddess  of  war,  39. 

Benedict  XIII.,  deposed  from  pa- 
pacy, 391. 

Benedictine  Rule,  nature  and  pur- 
pose, 84;  translation  of,  84; 
quoted,  84-90;  character  and 
duties  of  the  abbot,  84-86,  89; 
the  monks  to  be  called  in  coun- 
cil, 87;  the  Rule  always  to  be 
obeyed,  87;  monks  to  own  no 
property  individually,  87-88 ; 
daily  manual  labor,  88;  reading 
during  Lent,  89;  hospitality,  89. 

Benefice,  origin  and  development, 
206;  relation  to  vassalage,  207; 
example  of  grant,  207-210. 

Beowulf,  188. 

Bernardone,  Pietro,  father  of  St. 
Francis,  363. 

Bernardus  Clarcevallensis  (by  Wil- 
liam of  St.  Thierry),  quoted,  251- 
256,  258-260. 

Berno,  abbot  of  Cluny,  248. 

Bertha,  queen  of  Kent,  72,  75. 

Bertha,  daughter  of  Charlemagne, 
151. 

Biography,  character  of,  in  Middle 
Ages,  108. 

Blanche  of  Castile,  mother  of  St. 
Louis,  311,  313-314. 

Boccaccio,  Petrarch's  acquaintance 
with,  464. 

Boethius,  186. 

Bohemia,  king  of,  an  elector  of  the 
Empire,  410. 

Bohemians,  Louis  the  German 
makes  expedition  against,  160- 
161. 

Med.  Hist.— 31 


Bohemond  of  Tarentum,  294-295. 

Bologna,  University  of,  340. 

Boniface,  anoints  Pepin  the  Short, 
107. 

Boniface  VIII.,  conflict  with  Philip 
the  Fair,  383-384;  issues  bull 
Clericis  Laicos,  384;  issues  bull 
Unam  Sanctam,  385;  death,  385. 

Boulogne,  count  of,  uncle  of  St. 
Louis,  314. 

Bourges,  Pragmatic  Sanction  of, 
promulgated,  394;  quoted,  395- 
397. 

Bouvines,  King  John's  defeat  at, 
297,  403. 

Brackley,  English  barons  meet  at, 
300. 

Bretigny,  treaty  of,  negotiated, 
439;  provisions  of,  441-442. 

Britain,  Saxon  invasion  of,  68-72; 
shores  infested  by  Angle  and 
Saxon  seafarers,  68;  Roman 
garrisons  withdrawn  from,  68; 
Saxons  invited  into,  69;  Saxon 
settlement  in,  70;  Saxons  con- 
quer, 71-72;  Christianity  in,  72; 
Augustine  sent  to,  73-74;  con- 
version of  Saxon  population  be- 
gins, 75-77. 

Britons,  menaced  by  Picts  and 
Scots,  68;  decide  to  call  in  the 
Saxons,  68-69;  conquered  by 
the  Saxons,  71-72;  early  Chris- 
tianization  of,  72. 

Brittany,  Northmen  in,  166. 

Brussels,  conference  at,  422-423. 

Buchonian  Forest,  57,  58. 

Burchard,  bishop  of  Chartres, 
167. 

Burgundians,  faction  in  Hundred 
Years'  War,  440. 

Caesar,  Julius,  describes  the  Ger- 
mans in  his  "  Commentaries," 
19-22;  conquest  of  Gaul,  19,  32. 

Calais,  treaty  of  Bretigny  revised 
at,  439-440. 

Calixtus  II.,  concessions  made  by, 
in  Concordat  of  Worms,  279-280. 


INDEX 


Camargue,  Northmen  establish 
themselves  at,  168. 

Campus  Martius,  52;  Merovingian 
kings  at,  106-107. 

Cannae,  battle  of,  41. 

Canossa,  Henry  IV.  arrives  at,  274; 
Henry  IV. 's  penance  at,  276; 
oath  taken  by  Henry  IV.  at, 
277-278. 

Canterbury,  capital  of  Kent,  76; 
life  of  Augustine's  band  at,  77; 
Plegmund  archbishop  of,  190; 
Christchurch  monastery  built  at, 
242. 

Capellani,  functions  of,  190. 

Capitulare  Missorum  Generate,  pro- 
mulgated by  Charlemagne,  135; 
scope,  135;  translation  of,  135; 
quoted,  135-141;  character  and 
functions  of  the  missi,  135-137; 
new  oath  to  Charlemagne  as 
emperor,  137;  administration  of 
justice,  138-139;  obligations  of 
the  clergy,  139;  murder,  140. 

Capitulary,  Charlemagne's  con- 
cerning the  Saxon  territory,  118— 
123;  nature  of,  119-120;  Charle- 
magne's concerning  the  royal 
domains,  124-127;  Charlemagne's 
for  the  missi,  134-141 ;  nature  of, 
in  ninth  century,  174;  Carlo- 
man's  concerning  the  preserva- 
tion of  order,  174-176.  ' 

Capitulum  Saxonieum,  issued  by 
Charlemagne,  119. 

Cappadocia,  crusaders  in,  293. 

Cardinals,  college  of,  instituted, 
269;  and  Great  Schism,  389- 
391. 

Carloman,  capitulary  concerning 
the  preservation  of  order,  174- 
176;  functions  of  the  missi,  175*; 
obligations  of  officials,  176. 

Carmina  Burana,  source  for  me- 
diaeval students'  songs,  352. 

Carolingians,  origin  of,  105-106 
age  of  Charlemagne,  108-148 
disorders  in  reigns  of,  149-163 
menaced    by    Norse    invasions, 


163-173;  efforts  to  preserve  or- 
der, 173-176;  growing  inability 
to  cope  with  conditions,  174; 
replaced  by  Capetian  dynasty, 
177-180. 

Carthusians,  246. 

Castellanerie,  defined,  216. 

Celestine  III.,  381. 

Cens,  payment  of,  in  Lords,  328. 

Census,  209. 

Centenarius,  functions  of,  176. 

Chalcedon,  Council  of,  80. 

Chalons-sur-Saone,  immunity  of 
monastery  at,  confirmed  by 
Charlemagne,  212-214. 

Champagne,  county  of,  215;  Join- 
ville's  residence  in,  312. 

Charibert,  75. 

Charlemagne,  employs  Einhard  at 
court,  108;  biography  of,  109; 
personal  appearance,  109-110; 
manner  of  dress,  111;  fondness 
for  St.  Augustine's  De  Civitate 
Dei,  111 ;  everyday  life,  112;  edu- 
cation, 112-113;  interest  in  re- 
ligion, 113;  charities,  114;  policy 
of  Germanic  consolidation,  115; 
conquers  Lombardy,  Bavaria, 
and  the  Spanish  March,  115;  war 
with  the  Saxons,  115-118;  trans- 
plants Saxons  into  Gaul,  117— 
118;  peace  with  Saxons,  118; 
issues  capitularies  concerning 
the  Saxon  territory,  119;  capitu- 
lary concerning  the  royal  do- 
mains, 124-127;  revenues,  124; 
interest  in  agriculture,  124;  in- 
ventory of  a  royal  estate,  127- 
129;  appealed  to  by  Pope  Leo 
III.,  130;  goes  to  Rome,  130; 
crowned  emperor  by  Leo,  130, 
132-134;  significance  of  the  coro- 
nation, 131-133;  issues  capitu- 
lary for  the  missi,  134;  new 
oath  to,  as  emperor,  137;  provi- 
sions for  administration  of  jus- 
tice, 138-139;  legislation  for 
clergy,  139-140;  letter  to  Abbot 
Fulrad,  142-144;  builds  up  Pal- 


INDEX 


483 


ace  School,  144KL45;  provides 
for  elementary  and  intermediate 
education,  145;  confirms  im- 
munity of  monastery  of  Chalons- 
sur-Saone,  212-214. 

Charles  Martel,  victor  at  Tours,  105; 
Frankish  mayor  of  the  palace, 
105;  makes  office  hereditary,  105. 

Charles  the  Fat,  Emperor,  168; 
Odo's  mission  to,  170-171;  buys 
off  the  Northmen,  171;  deposi- 
tion and  death,  171. 

Charles,  son  of  Charlemagne, 
anointed  by  Leo,  134. 

Charles  the  Bald,  of  France,  birth, 
149;  combines  with  Louis  against 
Lothair,  150-151;  takes  oath  of 
Strassburg,  152-154;  lands  re- 
ceived by  treaty  of  Verdun,  155- 
156;  buys  off  the  Northmen,  159; 
capitularies,  174. 

Charles  the  Simple,  of  France, 
yields  Normandy  to  Rollo,  172. 

Charles  of  Lower  Lorraine,  claim- 
ant to  French  throne,  177;  can- 
didacy opposed  by  Adalbero, 
179-180. 

Charles  IV.,  Emperor,  founds  Uni- 
versity of  Prague,  345;  pro- 
mulgates Golden  Bull,  410. 

Charles  IV.  (the  Fair),  of  France, 
419. 

Charles  VI.  of  France,  440;  and 
the  Great  Schism,  390. 

Charles  VII.  of  France,  convenes 
council  at  Bourges,  394;  dauphin 
of  France,  440-441. 

Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  321. 

Charles,  of  Luxemburg,  slain  at 
Crecy,  433. 

Charter,  conditions  of  grant  to 
towns,  326;  of  Laon,  327-328;  of 
Lorris,  328-330.  (See  Magna 
Charta.) 

Chatillon,  St.  Bernard  educated  at, 
252;  begins  monastic  career  at, 
254. 

Childebert,  conquers  Septimania, 
57 


Childeric  I.,  father  of  Clovis,  50. 

Childeric  III.,  last  Merovingian 
king,  105;  deposed,  107. 

Chippenham,  Danes  winter  at,  184; 
siege  of,  184;  treaty  of,  185. 

Chronica  Major  a  (by  Roger  of 
Wendover) ,  scope  of,  298;  quoted, 
298-303. 

Chronica  Majora  (by  Matthew 
Paris),  value  of,  404;  quoted, 
405-409. 

Chroniques  (by  Froissart),  charac- 
ter of,  418;  quoted,  418-439. 

Church,  development  of,  78-96; 
origin  of  papacy,  78-79;  Pope 
Leo's  sermon  on  the  Pe trine 
supremacy,  80-83 ;  rise  of  monas- 
ticism,  83-84;  the  Benedictine 
Rule,  84-90;  papacy  of  Gregory 
the  Great,  90-91;  Gregory's  de- 
scription of  the  functions  of  the 
secular  clergy,  91-96;  Charle- 
magne's zeal  for  promotion  of, 
113;  Charlemagne 's  extension 
into  Saxony,  118-123;  influence 
on  development'  of  annalistic 
writings,  157;  education  intrusted 
to,  by  Charlemagne,  146;  to  aid 
in  suppressing  disorder,  175-176; 
illiteracy  of  English  clergy  in 
Alfred's  day,  190-192;  influence 
on  use  of  ordeals,  197;  use  of 
precarium,  206-207;  favored  by 
grants  of  immunity,  210;  efforts 
to  discourage  private  warfare, 
228-229;  decrees  the  Peace  of 
God,  229;  decrees  the  Truce  of 
God,  229;  reform  through  Clu- 
niac  movement,  246;  conditions 
in  St.  Bernard's  day,  250;  Greg- 
ory VII. 's  conception ~~of  the " 
papal  authority,  262-264;  Greg- 
ory VII.  avows  purpose  to  cor- 
rect abuses  in,  267;  college  of 
cardinals  instituted,  269;  issue  of 
lay  investiture,  265-278;  Con- 
cordat of  Worms,  278-281 ;  liber- 
ties in  England  granted  in  Great 
Charter,  305;  patronage  of  uni- 


484 


INDEX 


versities,  340 ;  menaced  by  abuses, 
360;  rise  of  the  mendicant  or- 
ders, 360;  St.  Francis's  attitude 
toward,  375,  377-378;  use  of 
excommunication  and  interdict, 
380;  Unam  Sanctam,  383-388; 
Great  Schism,  389-390;  Council 
of  Pisa,  390-391;  Council  of 
Constance,  391,  393;  Pragmatic 
Sanction  of  Bourges,  393-397; 
decline  in  England  in  fourteenth 
century,  474;  Wyclif's  efforts  to 
regenerate,  475-477. 

Cicero,  Dante  cites,  451;  Pe- 
trarch's reading  of,  466. 

Cimbri,  32. 

Cistercians,  246,  250. 

Citeaux,  246;  St.  Bernard  decides 
to  join,  252,  254;  St.  Bernard 
goes  forth  from,  256. 

Cities  (see  Towns),  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa  and  Lombard,  398-399; 
rights  of  guaranteed  by  Peace  of 
Constance,  400-402. 

Clairvaux,  St.  Bernard  founds 
monastery  at,  256-257;  descrip- 
tion of  by  William  of  St.  Thierry, 
258-260;  marvelous  works  ac- 
complished at,  259;  piety  of 
monks  at,  259. 

Claudius  Claudianus,  at  the  court 
of  Honorius,  42;  description  of 
the  Huns,  43. 

Clement  VII.,  elected  pope,  389; 
dies,  390. 

Clergy  (see  Church),  Charlemagne's 
general  legislation  for,  139-140; 
Pope  Gregory  I.'s  exhortation  to, 
91-96;  Charlemagne's  provisions 
for,  in  Saxony,  120-123;  tem- 
poral importance  in  Charle- 
magne's empire,  141-142;  work 
of  education  committed  to  by 
Charlemagne,  146;  illiteracy  in 
Alfred's  day,  186,  191-192; 
grants  of  immunity  to,  210-214; 
protected  by  Peace  of  God,  230- 
231;  worldliness  of,  in  England 
before  the  Conquest,  239. 


Clericis  Laicos,  issued  by  Boniface 
VIII.,  384. 

Clermont,  Council  of,  confirms 
Peace  and  Truce  of  God,  229; 
Pope  Urban 's  speech  at,  283- 
288;  first  crusade  proclaimed  at, 
287-288. 

Cloderic,  receives  deputation  from 
Clovis,  57;  has  his  father  slain, 
57 ;  himself  slain,  58. 

Clotilde,  wife  of  Clovis,  49;  labors 
for  his  conversion,  53;  calls 
Remigius  to  the  court,  54. 

Clovis,  conversion  of,  49;  becomes 
king  of  the  Salian  Franks,  50; 
advances  against  Syagrius,  51; 
defeats  him  at  Soissons,  51;  re- 
quests King  Alaric  to  surrender 
the  refugee,  51 ;  has  Syagrius  put 
to  death,  51;  episode  of  the 
broken  vase,  51-52;  decides  to 
become  a  Christian,  53;  wins 
battle  of  Strassburg,  53;  bap- 
tized with  his  warriors,  54;  in- 
terview with  Alaric,  54-55;  re- 
solves to  conquer  southern  Gaul, 
55;  campaign  against  Alaric,  55- 
57;  victory  at  Vouille,  56;  takes 
possession  of  southern  Gaul,  56; 
captures  Angouleme,  57;  sends 
deputation  to  Cloderic,  57 ;  takes 
Cloderic's  kingdom,  58;  slays 
Ragnachar  and  Richar,  58-59; 
death  at  Paris,  59. 

Cluny,  establishment  of  monastery 
at,  245;  growth  and  influence, 
246;  charter  issued  for,  247-249; 
land  and  other  property  yielded 
to,  247-248;  Berno  to  be  abbot, 
248;  relations  with  the  papacy, 
249;  charitable  activity,  249. 

Cologne,  57;  university  founded  at, 
345. 

Comitaiiis,  among  the  early  Ger- 
mans, 27-28,  a  prototype  of 
vassalage,  205. 

Commendation,  defined,  205; 
Frankish  formula  for,  205-206. 

Commerce,  freedom  guaranteed  by 


INDEX 


485 


Great  Charter,  308-309;  encour- 
aged in  charter  of   Lorris,  329. 

Commune  (see  Towns),  326. 

Compiegne,  171.       • 

Compurgation,   denned,   196. 

Conrad  IV.,  334. 

Constance,  Council  of,  assembles, 
391 ;  declarations  of,  393. 

Constance,  Peace  of,  398-402. 

Constantine,  78. 

Constantine  VI.,  deposed  at  Con- 
stantinople, 131-132. 

Constantinople,  threatened  by  Sel- 
juk  Turks,  282. 

Corbei,  191 ;  French  barons  assem- 
ble at,  314. 

Corvee,  provision  for  in  charter  of 
Lorris,  330. 

Councils,  Church,  powers  of  de- 
clared at  Pisa  and  Constance, 
392-393;  provisions  for  in  Prag- 
matic Sanction  of  Bourges,  396- 
397. 

Count,  duties,  123,  134;  restrictions 
on  by  grants  of  immunity,  211. 

Count  of  the  Palace,  112. 

Crecy,  English  take  position  at, 
427-428;  French  advance  to,  427, 
430-431;  English  prepare  for 
battle,  431-432;  the  French  de- 
feated at,  433-436. 

Crime,  in  the  Salic  law,  62-65;  in 
Charlemagne's  De  Partibus  Sax- 
onice,  123;  in  Charlemagne's  Ca- 
pitulare  Missorum  Generate,  140- 
141;  Carloman's  regulations  for 
suppression  of,  175-176;  in  Al- 
fred's legislation,  194-195;  pen- 
alties for  in  Peace  and  Truce  of 
God,  230-232;  protection  of 
scholars  against,  343. 

Crusade,  Gregory  VII.'s  plan  for, 
283;  Urban  II. 's  speech  in  behalf 
of,  284-288;  first  crusade  pro- 
claimed, 287-288;  motives  for, 
288;  starting  of  the  crusaders, 
289-291;  letters  of  crusaders, 
291-292;  Stephen  of  Blois  to  his 
wife,    292-296;    early    achieve- 


ments of,  293 ;  of  St.  Louis  to 
Egypt,  313,  318-322. 
Cyprus,  St.  Louis  in,  316;  departs 
from,  317. 

Dacia,  ceded  to  the  Visigoths,  33. 

Danelaw,  185. 

Danes  (see  Northmen),  earliest 
visits  to  England,  181;  defeat 
Alfred  the  Great  at  Wilton,  182; 
winter  at  Exeter,  183;  defeated 
by  Alfred  at  Swanwich,  183; 
winter  at  Chippenham,  184;  de- 
feated by  Alfred  at  Ethandune, 
184;  treaties  of  peace  with  Al- 
fred, 185. 

Dante,  career  of,  446;  attachment 
to  Holy  Roman  Empire,  446; 
relation  to  Renaissance,  446- 
447;  defends  Italian  as  a  literary 
language,  447-452 ;  conception  of 
imperial  power,  452-453;  De 
Monorchia  quoted,  453-462. 

Danube,  Visigoths  cross,  34-37. 

Dauphine,  origin  of,  395. 

De  Bello  Gallico  (by  Julius  Caesar), 
character  of,  20;  quoted,  20-22; 
used  by  Tacitus,  23. 

Debt,  in  the  Salic  law,  66;  collec- 
tion of  among  students,  342. 

Decime,  defined,  389. 

De  Civitate  Dei  (by  St.  Augustine), 
Charlemagne's  regard  for,  111. 

De  Divortio  Lotharii  regis  et  Tet- 
her go3  reginw  (by  Hincmar), 
quoted,  200-201. 

De  Domino  Divino  (by  Wyclif), 
nature  of,  474. 

De  Gestis  Regum  Anglorum  (by 
William  of  Malmesbury),  scope, 
235;  quoted,  235-241,  289-290. 

Degrees,  university,  340. 

De  Litteris  Colendis,  addressed  by 
Charlemagne  to  Abbot  Baugulf, 
145;  quoted,  146-148;  work  of 
education  committed  to  the 
clergy,  146-147;  education  essen- 
tial to  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
tures, 147. 


486 


INDEX 


Demesne,  125. 

De  Monarchia  (by  Dante),  nature 
of,  452-453;  quoted,  453-462. 

De  odio  et  dtia,  writ  of,  307-30S. 

De  Partibus  Saxonitr,  capitulary- 
issued  by  Charlemagne,  119; 
quoted,  120-123;  churches  as 
places  of  refuge,  120;  offenses 
against  the  Church,  121;  penal- 
ties for  persistence  in  paganism, 
122;  fugitive  criminals,  123;  pub- 
lic assemblies,  123. 

De  Rebus  Familiaribus  (by  Pe- 
trarch), quoted,  465-473. 

De  Rebus  Gestis  Mlfredi  Magni  (by 
Asser),  quoted,  182-185, 186-191. 

De  Temporibus  (by  Eusebius), 
preface  to,  cited  by  Petrarch,  468. 

De  Villis,  capitulary  issued  by 
Charlemagne,  124;  translation  of, 
124;  quoted,  124-127;  reports  to 
be  made  by  the  stewards,  125; 
equipment,  125-127;  produce 
due  the  king,  127. 

De  Vulgari  Eloquentia  (by  Dante), 
447-448. 

Deusdedit,  262. 

Dictatus  Papce,  authorship  of,  262; 
quoted,  262-264. 

Diedenhofen,  Louis,  Lothair,  and 
Charles  meet  at,  158. 

Divina  Commedia  (by  Dante),  446. 

Domains,  Charlemagne's  capitu- 
lary concerning,  124-127;  speci- 
men inventory  of  property,  127- 
129. 

Domesday  Survey,  243. 

Dominicans,  founded,  360. 

Dordrecht,  burned  by  the  North- 
men, 159;  again  taken,  161. 

Dorset,  Danes  land  in,  181. 

Dorylaeum,  Turks  defeated  at,  293. 

Druids,  among  the  Gauls,  20-21. 

Dudo,  dean  of  St.  Quentin,  165. 

Easter  tables,  origin  of  mediaeval 

annals,  157. 
Eastern  Empire,  menaced  by  Sel- 

juk  Turks,  282-283,  285. 


Ebolus,  abbot  of  St.  Germain  des 
Pres,  169-170. 

Edington  (see  Ethandune). 

Education,  decline  among  the 
Franks,  144-147;  Charlemagne's 

.  provisions  for,  145-148;  the 
Palace  School,  144;  decline  after 
Charlemagne,  145;  entrusted  by 
Charlemagne  to  the  clergy,  146; 
Alfred's  interest  in,  185;  of  Al- 
fred's children,  187;  Alfred's 
labors  in  behalf  of,  189-191; 
Alfred  laments  decline  of,  192; 
universities  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
339-359. 

Edward  the  Elder,  son  of  Alfred 
the  Great,  187. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  death  of, 
233. 

Edward  III.,  claim  to  French 
throne,  421;  takes  title  of  king 
of  France,  421-424;  wins  battle 
of  Sluys,  424-427;. takes  position 
at  Crecy,  427;  prepares  for  bat- 
tle, 429;  defeats  French  army, 
433-436 ;  new  invasion  of  France, 
439 ;  concludes  treaty  of  Bretigny, 
439-442. 

Edward,  the  Black  Prince,  wins  his 
spurs  at  Cr6cy,  434-435;  be- 
sieges and  sacks  Limoges,  436- 
439. 

Egbert's  stone,  Alfred  meets  Eng- 
lish people  at,  184. 

Einhard,  describes  weakness  of 
later  Merovingians,  106-107;  ca- 
reer of,  108;  author  of  Vita 
Car oli  Magni,  109;  sketch  of 
Charlemagne,  109-114;  account 
of  the  Saxon  war,  116-118; 
statement  regarding  Charle- 
magne's coronation,  133. 

Elbe,  German  boundary  in  Charle- 
magne's day,  330. 

Electors,  of  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
provisions  of  Golden  Bull  re- 
garding, 409-416. 

Ely,  bishop  of,  300. 

Empire  (see  Eastern  Empire;  Holy 


INDEX 


487 


Roman  Empire,  and  the  names 
of  emperors). 

England,  ravaged  by  the  Danes, 
181;  Alfred  the  Great  becomes 
king,  182;  Alfred's  wars  with  the 
Danes,  182-185;  navy  founded 
by  Alfred,  183;  treaty  of  Wed- 
more,  185;  decadence  of  learn- 
ing, 186;  Alfred  brings  learned 
men  to,  190-191;  Alfred  writes 
to  Bishop  Werfrith  on  state  of 
learning  in,  191-194;  William 
the  Conqueror's  claim  to  throne 
of,  234;  Harold  becomes  king  of, 
234;  William  the  Conqueror  pre- 
pares to  invade,  234;  battle  of 
Hastings,  235-238;  Saxons  and 
Normans,  238-241;  William  the 
Conqueror's  government  of,  241- 
244;  reign  of  King  John,  297-298; 
the  winning  of  the  Great  Charter, 
298-303;  provisions  of  the  Char- 
ter, 305-310;  Edward  III.  claims 
French  throne,  421-423;  naval 
battle  of  Sluys,  424-427;  battle 
of  Crecy,  427-436;  the  Black 
Prince  sacks  Limoges,  436-439; 
treaty  of  Bretigny,  439,  441-442; 
treaty  of  Troyes,  440,  443;  re- 
ligious decline  in  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, 474;  Wyclif's  career,  474- 
475. 

Epistolce  de  Rebus  Senilibus  (by 
Petrarch),  464. 

Epistolce  sine  Titulo  (by  Petrarch), 
464. 

Epistolce  Varice  (by  Petrarch),  464. 

Erfurt,  University  of,  foun4ed,  345. 

Etablissements  de  St.  Louis,  quoted, 
217,  223-224. 

Ethandune,  Alfred  defeats  Danes 
at,  184. 

Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent,  72;  ac- 
cepts Christianity,  73,  77 ;  power 
of,  74 ;  receives  Augustine,  76 ;  en- 
courages missionary  effort,  77. 
Ethelred  I.,  king  of  the  English, 

182. 
Ethelstan,  of  Mercia,  190. 


Ethelwerd,     son    of    Alfred    the 

Great,  186. 
Eugene  IV.,  and  Council  of  Basel, 

393. 
Eurie,  king  of  the  Northmen,  166; 

defeated  by  Louis  the  German, 

166. 
Eusebius,  author  of  De  Tempori- 

bus,  468.      . 
Excommunication,  nature  of,  380; 

of  Henry  IV.  by  Gregory  VII., 

272;  of  Frederick  II.  by  Gregory 

IX.,  406. 
Exeter,  Danes  winter  at,  183. 

Fealty,  ceremony  of,  216-217;  de- 
scribed in  an  English  law  book, 
218;  rendered  to  count  of  Flan- 
ders, 218-219;  ordinance  of  St. 
Louis  on,  219. 

Feudalism,  importance  of,  in  me- 
diaeval history,  203;  most'  per- 
fectly developed  in  France,  203- 
204;  essential  elements,  204; 
origins  of  vassalage,  204-205; 
formula  for  commendation,  205- 
206 ;  development  of  the  benefice, 
206-207;  example  of  grant  of  a 
benefice,  207-210;  origins  and 
nature  of  the  immunity,  210- 
211;  formula  for  grant  of  im- 
munity, 211-212;  an  immunity 
confirmed  by  Charlemagne,  212- 
214;  nature  of  the  fief,  214;  speci- 
men grants  of  fiefs,  215-216; 
complexity  of  the  system,  216; 
ceremonies  of  homage  and  fealty, 
216-217;  homage  defined,  217; 
fealty  described,  218;  homage 
and  fealty  illustrated,  218-219; 
ordinance  of  St.  Louis  on  homage 
and  fealty,  219;  obligations  of 
lords  and  vassals,  220-221 ;  rights 
of  the  lord,  221-228;  aids,  222- 
223;  military  service  involved, 
223-224 ;  wardship  and  marriage, 
224-225;  reliefs,  225-226;  for- 
feiture, 226-228;  militant  char- 
acter of  feudal  period,  228-229; 


488 


INDEX 


efforts  to  reduce  private  war, 
229;  the  Peace  and  Truce  of  God, 
229-232;  provisions  of  Great 
Charter  concerning,  306-307. 

Fief,  relation  to  benefice,  207;  na- 
ture, 214;  specimen  grants,  215- 
216. 

Fitz- Walter,  Robert,  besieges  cas- 
tle of  Northampton,  301. 

Flanders,  influence  on  Hundred 
Years'  War,  419;  allied  with  Ed- 
ward III.,  421-423. 

Flanders,  William,  count  of,  hom- 
age and  fealty  to,  218-219. 

Florence,  Dante  born  at,  445. 

Fontaines,  St.  Bernard  born  at, 
251. 

Fontenay,  Charles  and  Louis  de- 
feat Lothair  at,  150. 

Forfeiture,  nature,  226-227;  case 
of  Arnold  Atton,  227-228. 

Formula,  for  commendation,  205- 
206;  for  grant  of  a  benefice,  207- 
210;  for  grant  of  immunity  to  a 
bishop,  211-212. 

France,  Hugh  Capet  becomes  king, 
177-180;  geographical  extent  in 
987,  180;  feudalism  most  per- 
fectly developed  in,  203-204; 
over-population  of  described  by 
Pope  Urban,  286;  in  times  of 
Louis  IX.,  311-324;  treaty  of 
Paris  (1229),  322;  rise  of  mu- 
nicipalities in,  325-326 ;  interdict 
laid  on  by  Innocent  III.,  380- 
383;  Philip  the  Fair's  contest 
with  Boniface  VIII.,  383-388; 
States  General  meets,  385;  re- 
sponsibility for  Great  Schism, 
389-390;  Pragmatic  Sanction  of 
Bourges,  393-397;  disputed  suc- 
cession in  1328,  419-420;  Ed- 
ward III.  takes  title  of  king,  421- 
423;  naval  battle  of  Sluys,  424- 
427;  battle  of  Creey,  427-436; 
siege  and  sack  of  Limoges,  436- 
439;  treaty  of  Bretigny,  439, 
441-442;  treaty  of  Troyes,  440, 
443. 


Francia  Occidentalis,  155. 

Francia  Orientalis,  155. 

Francia,  territorial  extent,  152, 
155. 

Francis  I.,  Concordat  of,  394. 

Franciscans,  founded,  360,  361; 
life  of  St.  Francis,  363-373;  Rule 
of  St.  Francis,  373-376;  Will  of 
St.  Francis,  376-378. 

Frankfort,  electors  of  Empire  to 
assemble  at,  412. 

Franks,  conquer  northern  Gaul,  49; 
become  Christians,  49,  54;  char- 
acter of  conversion,  50;  close 
relations  with  papacy,  50;  Clovis 
becomes  king  of  the  Salians,  50 
defeat  Syagrius  at  Soissons,  51 
defeat  Alaric  near  Poitiers,  56 
Salic  law,  59-67;  decadence  of 
Merovingians,  105 ;  rise  of  Mayor 
of  the  Palace,  105;  early  mayors, 
105;  Pepin  the  Short  becomes 
king,  105-107;  the  age  of  Charle- 
magne, 108-148;  the  war  with 
the  Saxons,  114-118;  Charle- 
magne's capitularies,  118-127, 
134-141;  Charlemagne  crowned 
emperor,  130-134;  decay  of  learn- 
ing among,  144;  Carolingian 
Renaissance,  144-148;  disorder 
among  in  ninth  century,  157- 
163;  menaced  by  invasions  of 
Northmen,  160-163;  decline  of 
monarchy  in  ninth  century,  173; 
rise  of  feudalism  among,  173- 
174. 

Freckenhorst,  sacred  relics  brought 
to,  163. 

Frederick,  bishop  of  Hamburg, 
issues  charter  for  a  colony,  332- 
333. 

Frederick  Barbarossa,  grants  privi- 
leges to  students  and  masters, 
341-343;  and  the  Italian  com- 
munes, 398-399;  destroys  Milan, 
399;  defeated  at  Legnano,  399; 
agrees  to  Peace  of  Constance, 
399-400. 

Frederick  II.,  accession  of,  402- 


INDEX 


489 


403;  character,  403-404;  sus- 
pected of  heresy,  405;  excom- 
municated, 406,  408-409. 

Friars,  conditions  determining  rise 
of,  360;  unlike  monks,  360-361; 
relations  with  papacy  and  local 
clergy,  361 ;  system  of  organiza- 
tion, 361;  career  of  St.  Francis, 
362-378;  Rule  of  St.  Francis, 
373-376;  Will  of  St.  Francis, 
376-378. 

Fridigern,  leader  of  branch  of 
Visigoths,  33-34,  38,  39. 

Friesland  (see  Frisia). 

Frisia,  Northmen  in,  159,  162,  166. 

Froissart,  Sire  de,  "  Chronicles  "  of, 
417-418. 

Fulbert  of  Chartres,  letter  to  Wil- 
liam of  Aquitaine,  220-221. 

Fulcher  of  Chartres,  version  of 
Pope  Urban's  speech,  286;  ac- 
count of  starting  of  crusaders, 
290-291. 

Fulda,  Einhard  educated  at,  108, 
145. 

Fulrad,  Charlemagne's  letter  to, 
142-144;  summoned  to  assembly 
at  Strassfurt,  143;  troops  and 
equipment  to  be  brought,  143; 
gifts  for  the  Emperor,  143-144. 

Gaiseric,  112. 

Galicia,  Northmen  visit,  166. 

Gatinais,  329. 

Gau,  25. 

Gaul,  conquered  by  Julius  Caesar, 
19,  32;  invaded  by  Cimbri  and 
Teutons,  32;  Syagrius's  kingdom 
in,  51;  the  Franks  take  posses- 
sion in  the  north,  51;  Clovis 
overthrows  Visigothic  power  in 
south,  55-57;  monasteries  estab- 
lished in,  83;  Charlemagne  trans- 
plants Saxons  into,  117-118; 
Northmen  devastate,  159;  sur- 
vival of  Roman  immunity  in, 
210. 

Geoffrey  of  Clair vaux,  251. 

Germania  (by  Tacitus),  nature  and 


purpose,  23;  contents,  24;  trans- 
lation and  editions,  24;  quoted, 
24-31. 

Germans,  described  by  Caesar,  19- 
22;  religion,  21;  system  of  land 
tenure,  21;  magistrates  and  war 
leaders,  22;  hospitality,  22;  de- 
scribed by  Tacitus,  23-31;  loca- 
tion in  Caesar's  day,  20;  physical 
characteristics,  24;  use  of  iron, 
24;  weapons,  24-25;  mode  of 
fighting,  25-26,  40;  ideas  of  mili- 
tary honor,  25,  64;  kingship,  26; 
tribal  assemblies,  26-27;  in- 
vestment with  arms,  27;  the 
princeps  and  comitatus,  27,  28; 
love  of  war,  28-29;  agriculture, 
21,  29;  life  in  times  of  peace,  29; 
absence  of  tax  systems,  29;  lack 
of  cities  and  city  life,  29;  villages, 
30;  food  and  drink,  30;  amuse- 
ments, 30;  slavery,  31 ;  early  con- 
tact with  the  Romans,  32-33; 
defeat  Varus,  32 ;  put  Romans  on 
the  defensive,  32;  filter  into  the 
Empire,  33;  invasions  begin,  33; 
generally  Christianized  before  in- 
vasion of  Empire,  48;  character 
of  their  conversion,  49-50;  ideas 
of  law,  59-60 ;  influenced  by  con- 
tact with  Romans,  60;  codifi- 
cation of  law,  60;  legal  ideas 
and  methods,  196;  compurga- 
tion, 196;  use  of  the  ordeal,  196- 
197. 

Germany,  Henry  IV.'s  position  in, 
264-265;  Henry  V.'s  government 
of,  278;  question  of  lay  investi- 
ture in,  265-281;  colonization 
toward  the  east,  331-332;  colony 
chartered  by  bishop  of  Ham- 
burg, 331-333;  decline  of  im- 
perial power,  334;  chaotic  con- 
ditions, 334;  rise-  of  municipal 
leagues,  334;  the  Rhine  League, 
335-338;  rise  of  universities  in, 
345;  in  Frederick  Barbarossa's 
period,  398-399;  under  Freder- 
ick II.,  402-409;  conditions  after 


490 


INDEX 


Frederick  II.,  409-410;  Golden 
Bull  of  Charles  IV.,  410-416. 

Genghis  Khan,  empire  of,  316. 

Ghent,  Council  at,  423-424. 

Gildas,  story  of  Saxon  invasion  of 
Britain,  68. 

Gillencourt,  granted  to  Jocelyn 
d'Avalon,  216. 

Gisela,  173. 

Gloucester,  William  the  Conqueror 
wears  crown  at,  242. 

Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  289. 

Golden  Bull,  promulgated  by 
Charles  IV.,  409;  character  of, 
409. 

Gozlin,  bishop  of  Paris,  168. 

Grace  expectative,  nature  of,  396. 

Gratian,  35,  38. 

Great  Council,  in  William  the  Con- 
queror's time,  242;  provisions  of 
Great  Charter  concerning,  306; 
composition,  307. 

Greek  fire,  nature  of,  319;  used  by 
the  Saracens,  319-321. 

Gregory  of  Nazianzus,  cited  by 
Pope  Gregory,  93. 

Gregory  of  Tours,  facts  regarding 
career,  47;  author  of  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History  of  the  Franks,  47-48; 
opportunities  for  knowledge,  48; 
account  of  Frankish  affairs 
quoted,  50-59;  account  of  or- 
deal by  hot  water  quoted,  198- 
200. 

Gregory  I.  (the  Great),  plans  con- 
version of  Saxons,  72;  sends 
Augustine  to  Britain,  72-73; 
becomes  pope,  73,  90;  letter  of 
encouragement  to  Augustine's 
band,  74;  early  career,  90;  quali- 
fications, 90-91 ;  author  of  the 
Pastoral  Rule,  91 ;  describes  the 
functions  of  the  secular  clergy, 
91-96;  attitude  toward  worldly 
learning,  95;  Pastoral  Pule  trans- 
lated by  Alfred,  186,  193. 

Gregory  IV.,  158. 

Gregory  VI.,  261. 

Gregory  VIIV   early   career,   261; 


becomes  pope,  261,  269;  concep- 
tions of  papal  authority,  262- 
264;  breach  with  Henry  IV.,  264; 
letter  to  Henry  IV.,  265-269; 
claim  to  authority  over  temporal 
princes,  266;  avows  purpose  to 
correct  abuses  in  the  Church, 
267 ;  disposed  to  treat  Henry  IV. 
fairly,  268;  letter  to,  from  Henry 
IV.,  269-272;  charges  against,  by 
Henry  IV.,  272;  deposes  him, 
272-273;  meets  Henry  IV.  at 
Canossa,  274,  275;  absolves  him, 
276;  project  for  a  crusade,  283. 

Gregory  IX.,  403,  406. 

Gregory  XI.,  removes  to  Rome, 
389;  bull  concerning  Lollards, 
475. 

Gregory  XII.,  abdicates  papacy, 
391. 

Grimbald,  brought  from  Gaul  by 
Alfred,  190. 

Guienne,  English  and  French  dis- 
pute possession  of,  419. 

Guiscard,  Roger,  341. 

Guthrum,  peace  of  Alfred  and,  185; 
becomes  a  Christian,  185. 

Hadrian,  I.,  Ill,  130. 

Hamburg,  pillaged  by  the  Slavs, 
331 ;  bishop  of,  grants  charter  for 
a  colony,  331-333. 

Hanseatic  League,  334. 

Harold  Hardrada,  defeated  at 
Stamford  Bridge,  234. 

Harold,  son  of  Godwin,  chosen 
king  of  England,  234;  position 
disputed  by  William  the  Con- 
queror, 234;  defeats  Harold  Har- 
drada, 234;  takes  station  at 
Hastings,  234;  valor  and  death, 
237. 

Hastings,  English  take  position  at, 
234;  they  prepare  for  battle,  235; 
the  Normans  prepare,  236;  Wil- 
liam's strategem,  236-237. 

Heidelberg,  University  of,  founded, 
345;  charter  of,  345-350;  mod- 
elled on  University  of  Paris,  346; 


INDEX 


491 


internal  government,  347-348; 
jurisdiction  of  bishop  of  Worms, 
348;  exemptions  enjoyed  by 
students,  349;  rates  for  lodgings, 
350. 

Hell,  portrayed  in  the  Koran,  103- 
104. 

Hengist,  legendary  leader  of  Sax- 
ons, 71;  ancestry,  71. 

Henry  of  Champagne,  grants  fief 
to  bishop  of  Beauvais,  215. 

Henry  I.  of  England,  charter  of, 
298,  304,  306. 

Henry  III.  of  England,  concludes 
treaty  of  Paris  with  St.  Louis, 
322. 

Henry  V.  of  England,  in  Hundred 
Years'  War,  440;  marries  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  VI.,  441 ;  awarded 
French  crown  by  treaty  of 
Troyes,  443. 

Henry  I.  of  Germany,  movement 
against  the  Slavs,  331. 

Henry  III.  of  Germany,  273. 

Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  contro- 
versy opens  with  Gregory  VII., 
264;  wins  battle  on  the  Unstrutt, 
265;  letter  of  Gregory  VII.  to, 
265-269;  exhorted  to  confess  and 
repent  sins,  266,  268;  reply  to 
letter  of  Gregory  VII.,  269-272; 
rejects  papal  claim  to  temporal 
supremacy,  270;  excommuni- 
cated by  Gregory  VII.,  272;  de- 
posed by  him,  272-273;  penance 
at  Canossa,  273-277;  oath  of, 
277-278. 

Henry  V.  of  Germany,  succeeds 
Henry  IV.,  278;  his  spirit  of  in- 
dependence, 278;  invasion  of 
Italy,  278;  compact  with  Pas- 
chal II.,  278;  party  to  Concordat 
of  Worms,  279-281. 

Henry  VI.  of  Germany,  400,  402. 

Henry  VII.  of  Germany,  433. 

Hermaneric,  king  of  the  Ostro- 
goths, 33. 

Hide,  a  land  measure,  242. 

Hildebrand  (see  Gregory  VII.). 


Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims, 
165;  description  of  ordeal  by  cold 
water,  200-201. 

Hippo,  St.  Augustine  bishop  of,  112. 

Historia  Ecclesiastica  Gentis  Anglo- 
rum  (by  the  Venerable  Bede), 
scope  and  character,  68;  quoted, 
69-72,  73-77;  translation  of,  69. 

Historia  Ecclesiastica  Francorum 
(by  Gregory  of  Tours),  scope  and 
character,  48-49;  quoted,  50-59. 

Historia  Francorum  qui  ceperunt 
Jerusalem  (by  Raimond  of 
Agiles),  quoted,  201-202. 

Historia  Iherosolimitana  (by  Robert 
the  Monk),  quoted,  284-288. 

Historia  Iherosolimitana  (by  Ful- 
cher  of  Chartres),  quoted,  290- 
291. 

Historiarum  Libri  IV.  (by  Nithar- 
dus),  scope,  151;  quoted,  151- 
154. 

Historiarum  Libri  IV.  (by  Richer), 
scope,  178;  quoted,  178-180. 

Histoire  de  Saint  Louis-  (by  Join- 
ville),  character,  312;  quoted, 
313-324. 

Hollanders,  receive  charter  from 
bishop  of  Hamburg,  332-333; 
fiscal  obligations,  332;  judicial 
immunity,  333. 

Holy  Roman  Empire,  coronation  of 
Charlemagne,  130-134;  charac- 
ter and  significance,  131-132; 
difficulty  of  holding  together, 
149;  disordered  condition  in 
ninth  century,  157-163;  Henry 
IV.'s  position  in,  264-265;  ques- 
tion of  lay  investiture  in,  265- 
281;  Henry  V.,  emperor,  278; 
Concordat  of  Worms,  278-281; 
weakening  of  central  authority, 
334;  chaotic  condition,  334;  rise 
of  municipal  leagues,  334;  the 
Rhine  League,  335-338;  in  12th, 
13th,  and  14th  centuries,  398- 
416;  Frederick  Barbarossa  at 
head  of,  398;  Peace  of  Constance, 
399-402;  accession  of  Frederick 


492 


INDEX 


II.,  403;  Dante's  attachment  to, 
446;  Dante's  defense  of  in  De 
Monarchia,  452-462. 

Homage,  ceremony  of,  216-217;  a 
Norman  definition  of,  217;  ren- 
dered to  count  of  Flanders,  218- 
219;  ordinance  of  St.  Louis  on, 
219. 

Homer,  Dante's  knowledge  of,  449; 
Petrarch  interested  in,  467. 

Homicide,  in  the  Salic  law,  65. 

Honorius  III.,  St.  Francis  promises 
allegiance  to,  375. 

Horace,  alluded  to  by  Petrarch, 
468. 

Horsa,  legendary  leader  of  Saxons, 
71;  death,  71;  ancestry,  71. 

Hote,  defined,  329. 

House  of  Commons,  origin  of, 
307. 

House  of  Lords,  origin  of,  307. 

Hugh  Capet,  establishes  Capetian 
dynasty,  177;  Adalbero  urges 
election  as  king,  178-180;  crown- 
ed at  Noyon,  180;  extent  of 
dominions,  180. 

Humanism,  rise  of,  445;  Petrarch's 
love  of  the  classics,  465-469. 

Humber  River,  71,  74,  191. 

Hundred  Years'  War,  causes,  418- 
419;  Edward  III.  and  the  Flem- 
ings, 421-424;  naval  battle  of 
Sluys,  424-427;  battle  of  Crecy, 
427-436;  siege  and  sack  of 
Limoges,  436-439;  treaty  of 
Bretigny,  439,  441-442;  treaty 
of  Troyes,  440,  443. 

Huns,  threaten  the  Goths,  33-34, 
42;  characterized  by  Claudius 
Claudianus,  43;  described  by 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  43-46; 
physical  appearance,  44;  dress, 
44;  mode  of  fighting,  45;  no- 
madic character,  45;  greed  and 
quarrelsomeness,  46. 

Iacinthus,  199. 

II  Convito  (by  Dante),  character 
of,  447;  quoted,  447-452. 


Immunity,  in  Roman  law,  210; 
feudal,  210-211;  formula  for 
grant  to  bishop,  211-212;  grant 
to  a  monastery  confirmed  by 
Charlemagne,  212-214;  in  an 
East  German  colony,  333. 

Incendiarism,  in  the  Salic  law,  63; 
in  the  Burgundian  law,  63. 

Ingeborg,  wife  of  Philip  Augustus, 
380-381. 

Ingelheim,  108. 

Inghen,  Marsilius,  rector  of  Uni- 
versity of  Heidelberg,  345. 

Inheritance,  in  the  Salic  law,  66. 

Innocent  III.,  King  John's  surren- 
der to,  297;  confirms  privileges 
of  University  of  Paris,  341;  ap- 
proves work  of  St.  Francis,  362; 
lays  interdict  on  France,  380- 
383. 

Innocent  IV.,  403,  454. 

In  Rufinum  (by  Claudius  Claudia- 
nus), quoted,  43. 

Interdict,  nature  of,  380;  laid  on 
France,  380-383. 

Interregnum,  334;  end  of,  409- 
410. 

Investiture,  lay,  261;  Henry  IV. 's 
disregard  of  Gregory  VII. 's  de- 
crees concerning,  265;  Paschal 
II. 's  decree  prohibiting,  278; 
agreement  of  1111  concerning, 
278;  settlement  of  by  Concordat 
of  Worms,  279-281. 

Ireland,  Christianity  in,  72. 

Irene,  deposes  Constantine  VI., 
132. 

Irmensaule,  destroyed  by  Charle- 
magne, 122. 

Irnerius,  teacher  of  law  at  Bologna, 
340. 

Isabella,  mother  of  Edward  III., 
418-419;  excluded  from  French 
throne,  420. 

Islam  (see  Koran,  Mohammed). 

Italian  (language),  Dante's  de- 
fense of,  446-452. 

Italy,  Frederick  Barbarossa  and 
communes  of  398-399. 


INDEX 


493 


Jerusalem,  captured  by  Arabs,  282; 
by  the  Seljuk  Turks,  282. 

Jeufosse,  Northmen  winter  at,  167. 

Jocelyn  d'Avalon,  receives  fief 
from  Thiebault  of  Troyes,  216. 

John,  bishop  of  Ravenna,  91. 

John  the  Old  Saxon,  brought  from 
Gaul  by  Alfred,  191. 

John,  of  England,  character  of 
reign,  297;  conference  of  mag- 
nates in  opposition  to,  298;  ar- 
ranges truce  with  them,  299; 
takes  the  cross,  300;  scorns  the 
demands  of  the  barons,  301 ;  loses 
London,  302;  consents  to  terms 
of  Great  Charter,  303. 

John  XXIII,  elected  pope,  390; 
deposed,  391. 

John,  king  of  Bohemia,  421. 

John  II.  of  France,  taken  captive  at 
Poitiers,  439;  later  career,  442. 

John  the  Fearless,  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, 440. 

Joinville,  Sire  de,  sketch  of,  312; 
biographer  of  St.  Louis,  312. 

Judith  of  Bavaria,  149. 

Julian  the  Apostate,  271. 

Jurats,  in  Laon,  328. 

Jury,  not  provided  for  in  Great 
Charter,  308. 

Justice,  among  the  early  Germans, 
22;  among  the  Franks,  61-67; 
among  the  Saxons,  121-123; 
Charlemagne's  provision  for  in 
capitulary  for  the  missi,  138- 
139;  compurgation,  196;  ordeal, 
196-197;  administration  of  in  the 
universities,  342,  344,  349. 

Jutes,  settle  in  Kent,  70. 

Karlmann,  son  of  Charles  Martel, 
105. 

Kent,  Saxons  and  Jutes  settle  in, 
70;  Ethelbert,  king  of,  72,  74. 

Kingship,  among  the  early  Ger- 
mans, 26. 

Knut  VI.,  king  of  Denmark,  380. 

Koran,  origin  of,  97;  scope  and 
character,    98;   essential    teach- 


ings, 98;  translation,  99;  quoted, 
99-104;  opening  prayer,  99; 
unity  of  God,  99;  the  resurrec- 
tion, 100;  the  coming  judgment, 
100;  reward  of  the  righteous,  101  ; 
fate  of  the  wicked,  101;  pleas- 
ures of  paradise,  102-103;  tor- 
ments of  hell,  103-104. 
Kutuz,  defeats  Tartars,  317. 

La  Broyes,  Philip  VI.  at  castle  of, 
435. 

La  Ferte-sur-Aube,  216;  St.  Ber- 
nard at,  256. 

UAncienne  Coutume  de  Normandie, 
quoted,  217,  222-223,  224- 
225. 

Laon,  171 ;  charter  of,  327-328. 

Law,  character  of  among  the  early 
Germans,  27,  59-60;  codification 
under  Roman  influence,  60;  the 
Salic  code,  60-67;  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  194-195;  revival  of  Ro- 
man, 339-340;  study  of  at  Uni- 
versity of  Bologna,  340. 

Learning,  revival  under  Charle- 
magne, 144-148;  decline  after 
Charlemagne,  145;  Alfred  on 
state  of  in  England,  191-194; 
decadence  in  England  before  the 
Conquest,  239;  revival  in  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries, 
445;  Petrarch's  love  of  the 
classics,  465-469. 

Legend  of  the  Three  Companions, 
quoted,  363-368,  376-378. 

Legnano,  Frederick  Barbarossa  de- 
feated at,  399. 

Leo  I.  (the  Great),  elected  pope, 
78;  sermon  on  the  Petrine  su- 
premacy, 80-83. 

Leo  III.,  Ill;  driven  from  Rome, 
130;  appeals  to  Charlemagne, 
130;  crowns  Charlemagne  em- 
peror, 130,  132-134. 

Leo  IV.,  160. 

Leo  IX.,  261. 

Leo,  author  of  the  Mirror  of  Per- 
fection, 363. 


494 


INDEX 


Liberal  Arts,  place  in  Charle- 
magne's system  of  education, 
145;  Alfred  laments  his  ignor- 
ance of,  189,  339. 

Liber  Regulce  Pastoralis  (by  Pope 
Gregory  I.),  nature  and  value, 
91;  translation  of,  91;  quoted, 
91-96;  qualities  of  the  ideal  pas- 
tor, 91-93,  96;  admonitions  for 
various  sorts  of  people,  94-95; 
translated  by  Alfred,  186,  193. 

Libri  Miraculorum  (by  Gregory  of 
Tours),  quoted,  198-200. 

Liege,  Henry  IV.  dies  at,  278. 

Limoges,  siege  of  by  the  Black 
Prince,  436-439. 

Limousin,  437. 

Lindisfarne,  plundered  by  Danes, 
181. 

Little  Flowers  of  St.  Francis,  363. 

Loire,  Clovis  and  Alaric  meet  on, 
55;  Clovis's  campaign  beyond, 
55-56;  Northmen  on,  167. 

Lollards,  tenets  of,  475. 

Lombard  League,  formation  of, 
399;  Frederick  Barbarossa's  war 
upon,  399 ;  provisions  of  Peace  of 
Constance  regarding,  400-402. 

Lombards,  conquered  by  Charle- 
magne, 112,  115. 

London,  sacked  by  Danes,  181; 
King  John  at,  299;  army  of  the 
barons  arrives  at,  302;  surren- 
dered to  the  barons,  302;  treaty 
of,  439;  Wyclifs  doctrines  con- 
demned in  council  at,  475. 

Lorris,  model  of  franchise  towns, 
327;  charter  of,  328-330. 

Lorsch,  monastery  at,  106;  Lesser 
Annals  of,  106. 

Lothair,  Charles  and  Louis  com- 
bine against,  150;  defeated  at 
Fontenay,  150;  oaths  of  Strass- 
burg  directed  against,  151-154; 
makes  overtures  for  peace,  154; 
lands  received  by  treaty  of 
Verdun,  155-156. 

Lotharingia,  155. 

Louis  the  Pious,  capitulary  on  edu- 


cation, 145;  divides  the  Empire, 
149. 

Louis  the  German,  combines  with 
Charles  the  Bald  against  Lothair, 
150-151;  takes  oath  at  Strass- 
burg,  152-153;  lands  received  by 
treaty  of  Verdun,  155-156;  ad- 
vances against  the  Wends,  158, 
159,  160;  expeditions  against  the 
Bohemians,  160-161;  defeats  the 
Northmen,  166. 

Louis  the  Stammerer,  174. 

Louis  V.,  last  direct  Carolingian, 
177. 

Louis  VI.  of  France,  ratifies  char- 
ter of  Laon,  327. 

Louis  VII.  of  France,  215;  grants 
charter  to  Lorris,  327. 

Louis  IX.  of  France,  early  career, 
311,  313-314;  character,  311- 
312;  difficulties  at  beginning  of 
reign,  314;  takes  the  cross,  314- 
315;  emulated  by  prominent 
nobles,  315;  in  Cyprus,  316;  re- 
ceives deputation  from  Khan  of 
Tartary,  316-317;  arrival  in 
Egypt,  318;  advances  on  Baby- 
lon (Cairo),  318;  operations  on 
the  lower  Nile,  318-322;  nego- 
tiates treaty  of  Paris,  322;  per- 
sonal traits,  323 ;  methods  of  dis- 
pensing justice,  323-324. 

Louis  X.  of  France,  419. 

Louis  XI.  of  France,  seeks  to  re- 
voke Pragmatic  Sanction  of 
Bourges,  394. 

Louis  IV.,  Emperor,  allied  with 
Edward  III.,  421. 

Luidhard,  75. 

Luitbert,  brings  sacred  relics  to  the 
Freckenhorst,  163. 

Lyons,  Council  of,  Frederick  II. 
excommunicated  at,  407. 

Macon,  248. 

Magdeburg,  established,  331. 

Magna  Charta,  the  winning  of,  298- 
303;  agreed  to  at  Runnymede, 
303;  importance  and  character. 


INDEX 


495 


303-304;  translations,  305;  quot- 
ed, 305-310;  liberties  of  the  Eng- 
lish church,  305;  rate  of  reliefs, 
306;  aids,  306;  the  Great  Coun- 
cil, 307 ;  writ  de  odio  et  dtia,  307- 
308;  personal  liberties  and  pre- 
rogatives, 308;  freedom  of  com- 
mercial intercourse,  308-309 ; 
means  of  enforcement,  309. 

Magna  Moralia,  written  by  Pope 
Gregory,  91. 

Mainz,  a  capital  of  Rhine  League, 
337;  archbishop  of,  to  summon 
electors  of  the  Empire,  412. 

M alius,  character,  61 ;  summonses 
to,  61 ;  complaint  to  be  made  be- 
fore, 63. 

Manichaeus,  388. 

Manzikert,  Eastern  emperor  de- 
feated at,  282. 

Mapes,  Walter,  Latin  Poems  at- 
tributed to,  a  source  for  medi- 
aeval students'  songs,  352. 

Marcomanni,  32,  35. 

Marriage,  of  heiresses,  right  of  lord 
to  control,  224-225. 

Marseilles,  St.  Louis's  companions 
embark  at,  315. 

Marshall,  William,  surety  for  King 
John,  300-301. 

Martian,  69. 

Martin  V.,  elected  pope,  391;  and 
Council  of  Siena,  395. 

Matilda,  wife  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, 234. 

Matilda,  Countess,  ally  of  Gregory 
VII.,  274. 

Matthew  Paris,  292 ;  Greater  Chron- 
icle of,  quoted,  405-409. 

Maurice,  73. 

May-field,  character  of  in  Charle- 
magne's time,  142. 

Mayor  of  the  Palace,  rise  of,  105; 
office  made  hereditary,  105;  ac- 
cession of  Pepin  the  Short,  105; 
latter  becomes  king,  107. 

Merovingians,  decadence  of,   105- 
106;  end  with  Childeric  III.,  105. 
Merovius,  ancestor  of  Clovis,  50. 


Metz,  154;  diet  of,  410;  electors  of 
Empire  to  meet  at,  416. 

Milan,  Frederick  Barbarossa  de- 
stroys, 398-399. 

Ministeriales,  functions  of,  188. 

Missaticm,  135. 

Missidominici,  123;  Charlemagne's 
capitulary  for,  134;  character  and 
functions,  134-137;  employed 
by  Charles  Martel  and  Pepin 
the  Short,  135;  to  promulgate 
royal  decrees,  141 ;  abuses  of,  175- 
176;  in  ninth  century,  175-176. 

Mcesia,  Visigoths  settle  in,  34. 

Mohammed,  sayings  comprised  in 
Koran,  97;  principal  teachings, 
98. 

Monastery,  formula  for  grant  of 
precarium  by,  209-210;  grant  of 
immunity  confirmed  to,  212-214. 

Monasticism,  rise  of,  83-84;  char- 
acter of  in  the  East  and  West,  83 ; 
abbey  of  St.  Martin  established, 
83 ;  Monte  Cassino  established  by 
St.  Benedict,  84;  the  Benedictine 
rule,  84-90;  character  and  func- 
tions of  the  abbot,  84-86;  pro- 
hibition of  individual  property- 
holding,  87;  manual  labor,  88; 
reading  and  study,  89;  hospi- 
tality, 89;  decadence  in  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries,  245;  the 
Cluniac  reform,  245-246;  St. 
Bernard's  reformation  of,  250; 
founding  of  Clairvaux,  256-258. 

Monotheism,  set  forth  in  the 
Koran,  99. 

Monte  Cassino,  monastery  founded 
at,  84;  Karlmann  withdraws  to, 
105. 

Montlheri,  St.  Louis  at,  314;  Eng- 
lish army  at,  439. 

Mortmain,  prohibited  by  charter 
of  Laon,  328. 

Murder,  Charlemagne's  legislation 
on,  141. 

Nantes,  pillaged  by  Northmen,  165. 
Nazianzus,  Gregory,  bishop  of,  93. 


496 


INDEX 


Nerva,  34. 

New  Forest,  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, 244. 

Nicaea,  Council  of,  198;  Seljuk 
Turks  established  at,  282;  cru- 
saders converge  at,  290. 

Nice,  Visigoths  advance  toward,  38. 

Nicholas  II.,  269. 

Nile,  St.  Louis's  operations  on,  318. 

Nithardus,  author  of  Historiarum 
Libri  IV.,  151;  career,  151. 

Nogaret,  William  of,  captures 
Boniface  VIII.,  385. 

Nomenoe,  conflicts  with  Charles 
the  Bald,  167. 

Normans,  rapid  civilization  of,  233 ; 
retain  adventuresome  disposi- 
tion, 233;  in  battle  of  Hastings, 
236-238;  described  by  William 
of  Malmesbury,  238-241. 

Normandy,  ceded  by  Charles  the 
Simple  to  Rollo,  172;  improve- 
ment under  Norman  regime,  173; 
William  the  Bastard  becomes 
duke  of,  233-234;  English  and 
French  dispute  possession  of,  419. 

Northampton,  castle  of,  besieged 
by  the  English  barons,  301. 

Northmen,  in  Frisia  and  Gaul,  159- 
160;  in  Frisia  and  Saxony,  162; 
burn  church  of  St.  Martin  at 
Tours,  162,  167;  motives  of  the 
Norse  invasions,  163;  pillage, 
Nantes,  165;  winter  at  Rhe,  165; 
ascend  Garonne,  166;  in  Spain, 
166;  at  Paris,  166;  in  Frisia  and 
Brittany,  166;  threaten  Orleans, 
167;  at  Angers,  167;  pillage  Or- 
leans, 167;  plunder  Pisa,  168; 
besiege  Paris,  168-171;  bought 
off  by  Charles  the  Fat,  171;  re- 
ceive Normandy  from  Charles 
the  Simple,  172;  become  Chris- 
tians, 173.    (See  Danes.) 

Notre  Dame,  cathedral  school  of, 
340. 

Noyon,  Hugh  Capet  crowned  at, 
180. 

Nuremberg,  diet  of,  410. 


Odo,  becomes  king  of  France,  168, 
177;  defense  of  Paris,  169-170; 
mission  to  Charles  the  Fat,  170- 
171. 

Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  imprisoned 
by  William  the  Conqueror,  243. 

Oppenheim,  convention  of,  274. 

Ordeal,  nature  of,  197;  use  among 
Germanic  peoples,  197;  various 
forms,  197;  an  Arian  presbyter 
tested  by,  198-200;  by  cold 
water  described,  200-201;  Peter 
Bartholomew  subjected  to  by 
fire,  201-202. 

Origen,  387. 

Orleans,  threatened  by  the  North- 
men, 167;  pillaged  by  them, 
167. 

Orosius,  186. 

Ostrogoths,  fall  before  the  Huns, 
33. 

Otger,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  152, 
160. 

Otto  I.  of  Germany,  331. 

Otto  II.  of  Germany,  loses  ground 
to  the  Slavs,  331. 

Otto  III.  of  Germany,  403. 

Otto  IV.  of  Germany,  401 ;  crowned 
at  Rome,  403;  defeated  at  Bou- 
vines,  403. 

Oxford,  Wyclif  educated  at,  474; 
banishes  Lollards,  475. 

Paderborn,  Frankish  assembly  at, 
119;  Pope  Leo  III.  meets  Charle- 
magne at,  130. 

Pagus,  25. 

Paradise,  portrayed  in  the  Koran, 
102-103. 

Palace  School,  origin  of,  144;  en- 
largement by  Charlemagne,  112- 
113,  144-145. 

Papacy,  views  on  origin  of,  78-79; 
reasons  for  growth,  78-79;  theory 
of  Petrine  supremacy,  79;  Pope 
Leo's  sermon,  80-83;  Gregory 
becomes  pope,  73,  90;  his  literary 
efforts,  91 ;  describes  functions  of 
secular  clergy,  91-96;  Pope  Zach- 


INDEX 


497 


arias  sanctions  deposition  of 
Merovingian  line,  107;  Pope  Leo 
III.  crowns  Charlemagne  em- 
peror, 130-134;  Cluny's  relations 
with,  249;  Gregory  VII. 's  con- 
ception of,  262-264;  Gregory 
VII. 's  claim  to  authority  over 
temporal  princes,  266;  Henry 
IV. 's  rejection  of  claim  of,  270; 
Calixtus  II.  agrees  to  Concordat 
of  Worms,  278-281 ;  relations  of 
friars  with,  361;  St.  Francis's 
attitude  towards,  375,  377-378; 
and  temporal  powers  in  later 
Middle  Ages,  380-397;  contest  of 
Innocent  III.  and  Philip  Au- 
gustus, 380-383 ;  Boniface  VIII. 's 
bull  Unam  Sanctam,  383-388; 
Babylonian  Captivity,  383,  389; 
Great  Schism,  389-390;  declara- 
tions of  Councils  of  Pisa  and 
Constance,  390-393 ;  provisions 
of  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges 
regarding  powers  of,  395-397; 
conflicts  with  Frederick  II.,  405- 
409;  Dante  enumerates  theories 
in  defense  of,  453-455;  defines 
true  position  of,  456-462;  Wyc- 
lif  's  ideas  concerning,  475-477. 

Paris,  Clovis's  capital,  57;  his 
death  at,  59;  Northmen  at,  166; 
Northmen  prepare  to  besiege, 
168;  attack  upon,  169-171;  im- 
portance of  siege,  171 ;  treaty  of 
(1259),  322;  treaty  of  (1396), 
439. 

Paris,  University  of,  origin,  340; 
privileges  granted  to  students  by 
Philip  Augustus,  341,  343-345; 
Heidelberg  modelled  on,  346; 
case  of  Great  Schism  laid  before, 
390;  proposals  regarding  Schism, 
371-392. 

Paschal  II.,  accession  to  papacy, 
278;  decree  prohibiting  lay  in- 
vestiture, 278;  relations  with 
Henry  V.,  278. 

Patrocinium,  a  prototype  of  vas- 
salage, 204. 

Med.  Hist.— 32 


Paul  the  Deacon,  in  Charlemagne's 
Palace  School,  144. 

Paulinus  of  Aquileia,  in  Charle- 
magne's Palace  School,  144. 

Pa  via,  taken  by  Charlemagne,  112. 

Peace  of  God,  decreed  by  Church 
councils,  229;  decree  of  Council 
of  Toulouges,  229-232. 

Pelagius  II.,  sends  Gregory  to 
Constantinople,  90. 

Penalties,  in  the  Salic  law,  62-65; 
in  Charlemagne's  De  Partibus 
Saxonice,  121-123;  in  Alfred's 
legislation,  194-195;  for  viola- 
tion of  an  immunity,  214;  for 
violation  of  Peace  and  Truce  of 
God,  230-232. 

Pepin  the  Short,  son  of  Charles 
Martel,  105;  mayor  of  the  pal- 
ace, 105;  sends  deputation  to 
Pope  Zacharias,  106;  crowned  by 
Pope  Stephen  III.,  106;  advised 
to  take  title  of  king,  107;  anoint- 
ed by  Boniface  at  Soissons,  107. 

Pepin,  grandson  of  Louis  the  Pious, 
152,  158. 

Peter  Bartholomew,  subjected  to 
ordeal  by  fire,  198,  201-202. 

Peter  of  Catana,  minister-general 
of  Franciscans,  370. 

Peter  of  Pisa,  brought  to  Charle- 
magne's court,  112;  in  the  Palace 
School,  144. 

Petrarch,  career  of,  462-463 ;  part  in 
the  Renaissance,  463;  writings, 
464-465 ;  love  of  the  classics,  465- 
469;  letter  to  Posterity,  469-473. 

Petrine  Supremacy,  theory  of,  79 
Pope  Leo's  sermon  on,  80-83 
mediaeval  acceptance  of,  79 
theory  of  stated  by  Gregory 
VII.,  267;  allusion  to  in  Unam 
Sanctam,  386;  Dante's  concep- 
tion of,  456-457. 

Pfahlburgers,  provision  of  Rhine 
League  concerning,  337. 

Philip  II.  (Augustus)  of  France, 
privileges  granted  to  students 
by,  343-345;  contest  with  In- 


498 


INDEX 


nocent  III.,  380-383;  imposes 
Saladin  tithe,  390.  . 

Philip  IV.  (the  Fair)  of  France, 
contest  with  Boniface  VIII.,  383- 
385;  convenes  States  General, 
385;  sons  of,  419. 

Philip  V.  of  France,  419. 

Philip  VI.  of  France,  acquires  the 
Dauphine,  395;  accession  of,  420; 
advances  with  army  to  Crecy, 
430-431 ;  defeated  at  Crecy,  433- 
436. 

Philip  of  Hohenstaufen,  402-403. 

Philip  the  Bold,  duke  of  Burgundy, 
440. 

Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy, 
440. 

Philippa,  wife  of  Edward  III.,  425. 

Piacenza,  Council  of,  283. 

Picts,  menace  the  Britons,  .  68; 
Saxons  called  in  against,  69; 
Saxons  ally  with,  71. 

Pilgrimages,  to  Jerusalem,  282-283. 

Pisa,  Council  of,  convened,  390; 
declarations  of,  392-393. 

Plato,  Petrarch  loans  a  volume  of, 
469. 

Plegmund,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 190. 

Pliny  the  Elder,  probably  used  by 
Tacitus,  23. 

Poitiers,  55,  56;  battle  of,  418. 

Pontus,  35. 

Posidonius  of  Rhodes,  probably 
used  by  Tacitus,  23. 

Prague,  University  of  founded,  345. 

Precarium,  nature  of,  206;  proto- 
type of  the  benefice,  206-207; 
example  of  grant,  207-210. 

Principes,  among  the  early  Ger- 
mans, 27-28;  conduct  in  battle, 
28. 

Prudence,  bishop  of  Troyes,  165. 

Quadi,  35. 
Quadrivium,  145,  339. 

Ragnachar,  kinsman  of  Clovis,  51 ; 
slain,  58-59. 


Raymond  of  Agiles,  account  of  or- 
deal by  fire,  201-202. 

Raymond,  count  of  Toulouse,  letter 
to  Arnold  Atton,  227-228. 

Raymond  of  St.  Gilles,  294-295. 

Ravenna,  Dante's  death  at,  446. 

Reformation,  foreshadowings  of, 
474-477. 

Regalia,  in  Concordat  of  Worms, 
279-280;  claimed  by  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  398;  grant  of  to 
Lombard  cities,  400-401. 

Relief,  defined,  223,  225;  origin, 
225-226;  examples,  226;  rate 
fixed  by  Great  Charter,  306. 

Religion,  of  the  early  Germans,  21 ; 
rise  of  Mohammedanism,  97-104; 
the     Koran     quoted,     99-104; 
Charlemagne's  zeal  for,  113. 

Remigius,  bishop  of  Rheims,  54. 

Renaissance  (Carolingian),  condi- 
tions preceding,  144;  Charle- 
magne's part  in,  145-146. 

Renaissance  (Italian),  nature  of, 
444-445;  career  of  Dante,  446- 
447;  Dante's  defense  of  Italian 
as  literary  language,  446-452; 
Dante's  conception  of  the  im- 
perial power,  452-462 ;  career  and 
writings  of  Petrarch,  462-465; 
Petrarch's  love  of  the  classics, 
465-469;  his  letter  to  Posterity, 
469-473. 

Rerum  Gestarum  Libri  qui  Super- 
sunt  (by  Ammianus  Marcellinus), 
quoted,  34-37,  38-41,  43-46. 

Reserve,  nature  of,  396. 

Resurrection,  portrayed  in  the 
Koran,  100. 

Rhe,  Northmen  winter  at,  165. 

Rhine,  the  Roman  frontier,  19-20; 
trade  in  vicinity  of,  30,  32. 

Rhine  League,  conditions  influenc- 
ing formation,  334;  instituted  at 
Worms,  335;  restrictions  im- 
posed on  members,  335;  treat- 
ment of  enemies  of,  335-336; 
capitals,  337;  governing  body, 
337;  military  preparations,  338. 


INDEX 


499 


Richar,  slain  by  Clovis,  59. 

Richer,  author  of  Four  Books  of 
Histories,  178. 

Rivo  Torto,  St.  Francis  at, 
369. 

Robert  I.,  169,  177. 

Robert  the  Strong,  168,  177. 

Robert  the  Monk,  version  of  Pope 
Urban's  speech,  283-288. 

Robert  of  Artois,  connection  with 
Hundred  Years'  War,  423. 

Robertians,  168;  rivalry  with  Caro- 
lingians,  177. 

Roger  de  Hoveden,  292. 

Roger  of  Wendover,  account  of  the 
winning  of  the  Great  Charter, 
298-303,  404. 

Roland,  Song  of,  236. 

Rollo,  receives  Normandy  from 
Charles  the  Simple,  172;  bap- 
tized, 172;  improvement  of  Nor- 
mandy, 173. 

Romans,  conquest  of  Gaul  by,  19; 
travelers  and  traders  in  Ger- 
many, 23,  32;  defeat  of  Varus, 
32;  put  on  the  defensive,  32; 
early  contact  with  the  Ger- 
mans, 32-33;  alarmed  by  re- 
ports of  Gothic  restlessness,  35 ; 
mistreat  the  Visigoths,  37;  de- 
feated at  Adrianople,  39-41; 
withdraw  garrisons  from  Britain, 
68. 

Roman  Empire,  filtration  of  Ger- 
mans into,  33;  efforts  to  enlarge 
to  the  northward,  19,  32;  Visi- 
goths desire  to  enter,  34;  Visi- 
goths settle  in,  36-37 ;  relation  of 
Charlemagne's  empire  to,  131— 
132. 

Romanus  Diogenes,  defeated  at 
Manzikert,  282. 

Rome,  development  of  papacy  at, 
78-79;  Pepin  the  Short  sends  dep- 
utation to,  106;  Charlemagne's 
visits  to,  111,  114;  Charlemagne 
crowned  at,  130,  132-134;  plun- 
dered by  the  Saracens,  160. 

Romulus  Augustulus,  131. 


Roncesvalles,  Count  Roland  slain 
at,  236. 

Rorik,  leader  of  Northmen,  161. 

Rouen,  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  im- 
prisoned at,  243. 

Rudolph  I.,  of  Hapsburg,  elected 
emperor,  409. 

Rudolfi  Fuldensis  Annates,  quoted, 
156. 

Rufinus,  companion  of  St.  Francis, 
363. 

Rule,  of  St.  Francis,  drawn  up,  373- 
374;  quoted,  375-376. 

Runnymede,  Great  Charter  pro- 
mulgated at,  303. 

Rupert  I.,  founds  University  of 
Heidelberg,  345. 

Sacrosancta,  decree  of,  391. 

St.  Albans,  298. 

St.  Andrew,  monastery  of,  estab- 
lished, 90. 

St.  Augustine,  author  of  De  Civi- 
tate  Dei,  111. 

St.  Benedict,  career  of,  84;  service 
to  European  monasticism,  84; 
Rule  of,  84-90. 

St.  Bernard,  times  of,  250;  founds 
Clairvaux,  250;  biography  of, 
251;  birth  and  parentage,  251; 
early  traits,  252;  decides  to  be- 
come a  monk,  252-253;  at 
Chatillon,  254;  enters  Citeaux, 
254;  obtains  ability  to  reap,  255; 
piety  and  knowledge  of  Script- 
ures, 255-256;  goes  forth  from 
Citeaux,  256;  founds  monastery 
at  Clairvaux,  256-257. 

St.  Bonaventura,  author  of  official 
life  of  St.  Francis,  363. 

Saint-Clair-sur-Epte,  treaty  of,  172. 

St.  David,  181. 

St.  Dionysius,  387. 

St.  Dominic,  founder  of  Dominican 
order,  360. 

St.  Edmund's  magnates  of  Eng- 
land assemble  at,  298, 

St.  Francis,  early  career,  362; 
sources  of  information  on,  362; 


500 


INDEX 


youthful  follies,  364;  redeeming 
qualities,  364;  change  in  manner 
of  life,  365-366;  zeal  in  charity, 
366-367;  begs  alms  at  Rome, 
367;  overcomes  aversion  to  lep- 
ers, 368;  refuses  to  dwell  in  an 
adorned  cell,  369;  humiliates 
himself  publicly,  370-371;  love 
for  the  larks,  371-372;  regard 
for  all  created  things,  372-373; 
draws  up  his  Rule,  373-374;  the 
Rule  quoted,  375;  the  will  of, 
376-378;  attitude  toward  the 
existing  Church,  375,  377-378; 
enjoins  poverty  and  labor,  377- 
379. 

St.  Germain  des  Pres,  165,  169. 

St.  Hilary,  bishop  of  Poitiers,  56. 

St.  Jerome,  translation  of  Script- 
ures, 193;  cited  by  Petrarch,  468. 

St.  Louis  (see  Louis  IX.). 

St.  Marcellus,  Church  of,  212. 

St.  Martin  (of  Tours),  career  of,  48; 
shrine  of  visited  by  pilgrims,  48; 
Clovis's  respect  for,  55, 57 ;  church 
at  Canterbury  dedicated  to,  77; 
monastery  at  Tours  dedicated 
to,  83;  church  of  burned  by 
Northmen,  162,  167. 

St.  Peter,  Christ's  commission  to, 
79,  81. 

St.  Peter,  Church  of,  Charlemagne's 
gifts  to,  114;  Charlemagne 
crowned  in,  133;  fortified,  161. 

St.  Quentin,  Fulrad  abbot  of,  142; 
Dudo,  dean  of,  165. 

Savigny,  granted  as  fief  to  bishop 
of  Beauvais,  215. 

Saisset,  Bernard,  offends  Philip  the 
Fair,  384. 

Salerno,  University  of,  341. 

Salic  law,  cited,  25;  date,  60;  char- 
acter, 60;  editions  and  transla- 
tion, 61 ;  monetary  system  in,  61 ; 
summonses  to  meetings  of  the 
local  courts,  61;  theft,  62;  rob- 
bery with  assault,  63;  incendiar- 
ism, 63;  deeds  of  violence,  63; 
use  of  poison  or  witchcraft,  64; 


slander,  64;  trespass,  65;  homi- 
cide, 65;  right  of  migration,  66; 
debt,  66;  inheritance,  66-67; 
wergeld,  67. 

Saracens,  plunder  Rome,  160;  Ital- 
ian league  against,  160;  renew 
devastation,  161;  in  possession 
of  the  Holy  Land,  282;  combats 
with  crusaders,  292-296;  project 
to  turn  the  Tartars  against,  317; 
operations  against  St.  Louis, 
318-322;  Frederick  II.  accused 
of  friendly  relations  with,  405- 
407. 

Saxon  Chronicle,  quoted,  241-244. 

Saxons,  conquer  Britain  while  yet 
pagans,  49;  infest  British  coasts, 
68;  appear  at  Thanet,  69;  called 
in  by  Britons,  69;  settlement  in 
Britain,  70;  ally  with  Picts,  71; 
conquest  of  Britain,  71-72;  pagan 
character,  72;  Christianization 
begun,  73-77;  in  Charlemagne's 
day,  115-117;  problem  of  con- 
quest, 115-116;  lack  of  natural 
frontier,  117;  faithlessness,  117; 
transplanted  in  part  to  Gaul, 
117;  Charlemagne's  peace  with, 
118;  massacre  at  Verden,  117; 
formula  for  acceptance  of  Chris- 
tianity, 118;  Charlemagne's  ca- 
pitularies concerning,  118-123; 
provisions  for  establishment  of 
Christianity  among,  120-122; 
penalties  for  persistence  in  pagan- 
ism, 122;  fugitive  criminals,  123; 
public  assemblies,  123. 

Scheldt  River,  58. 

Schism,  Great,  origin,  389-390; 
plans  of  University  of  Paris  to 
end,  391-392;  Councils  of  Pisa 
and  Constance,  390-393;  stops 
proceedings  against  Wyclif,  475. 

Schools  (see  Education). 

Scots,  menace  the  Britons,  68; 
Saxons  called  in  against,  69. 

Scutage,  increased  by  King  John, 
297;  method  of  raising  specified 
in  Great  Charter,  306. 


INDEX 


501 


Scythia,  43. 

Seine,  Northmen  on,  166,  168. 

Seligenstadt,  Einhard  at,  109. 

Selwood,  Alfred  at,  184. 

Senlis,  meeting  of  Frankish  mag- 
nates at,  178. 

Sens,  given  over  to  Northmen  to 
plunder,  171. 

Septimania,  conquered  by  Childe- 
bert,  57. 

Septuagint,  192. 

Serfs,  fugitive,  138. 

Sergius  II.,  158. 

Senlac  (see  Hastings). 

Siegfred,  leads  siege  of  Paris,  168. 

Siena,  Council  of,  395. 

Sigibert  the  Lame,  slain  by  son's 
agents,  57. 

Sigismund,  appealed  to  by  John 
XXIII.,  391. 

Simony,  261;  Henry  IV. 's  coun- 
cilors condemned  for,  264. 

Slander,  in  the  Salic  law,  64. 

Slavery,  among  the  early  Germans, 
31. 

Slavs,  location  in  Charlemagne's 
day,  330;  German  encroachment 
upon,  331. 

Sluys,  naval  battle  of,  424-427. 

Soana,  Hildebrand  born  at,  261. 

Soissons,  capital  of  Syagrius 's  king- 
dom, 51 ;  Clovis  defeats  Syagrius 
at,  51 ;  episode  of  the  broken  vase, 
51-52;  Pepin  the  Short  anointed 
at,  107;   council  at,  381. 

Solidus,  value,  61. 

Spain,  invaded  by  Northmen,  166. 

Spanish  March,  annexed  to  Charle- 
magne's kingdom,  115. 

Speculum  Perfectionis  (by  Brother 
Leo),  quoted,  368-373. 

Speyer,  Henry  IV.  flees  from,  274. 

Stamford,  English  barons  meet  at, 
300. 

Stamford  Bridge,  Harold  Hardrada 
defeated  at,  234. 

Stephen,  abbot  of  Citeaux,  254. 

Stephen  III.,  crowns  Pepin  the 
Short,  106. 


Stephen  IX.,  261. 

Stephen  of  Blois,  sketch  of,  292; 
letter  to  his  wife,  292-296;  re- 
counts experiences  of  crusaders, 
293;  describes  siege  of  Antioch, 
293-296. 

Stephen  Langton,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  298,  299. 

Strassburg,  battle  of  won  by 
Clovis,  49,  50,  53;  results,  53-54; 
oaths  of  Charles  and  Louis  at, 
150,  152-154;  linguistic  and  his- 
torical significance,  150-151. 

Strassfurt,  Frankish  assembly  at, 
142. 

Students,  privileges  granted  to  by 
Frederick  I.,  341-343;  by  Philip 
Augustus,  343-345 ;  itinerant 
character  of,  351-352;  songs  of, 
353-359. 

Subasio,  Mount,  St.  Francis  seeks 
seclusion  at,  370. 

Suetonius,  34;  as  model  for  Ein- 
hard, 109. 

Suevi,  described  by  Caesar,  21. 

Swanwich,  Danes  defeated  at,  183. 

Syagrius,  "king  of  the  Romans," 
50-51;  defeated  by  Clovis  at 
Soissons,  51;  takes  refuge  with 
Alaric,  51;  surrendered  and  put 
to  death,  51. 

Sylvester  II.  (Gerbert),  283. 

Syria,  overrun  by  Arabs,  282; 
partially  recovered,  282;  con- 
quered by  Seljuk  Turks,  282; 
described  by  Pope  Urban,  286; 
crusaders  in,  293-296. 

Tacitus,  describes  the  Germans  in 
his  Germania,  23-31;  sources  of 
information,  23;  object  in  writ- 
ing, 23-24. 

Tartary,  Khan  of,  sends  deputa- 
tion to  St.  Louis,  316-317. 

Taxation,  not  developed  among 
the  early  Germans,  29. 

Templars,  in  England,  299;  Turks 
attack,  319. 

Tertullian,  72. 


502 


INDEX 


Tescelin,  father  of  St.  Bernard,  251. 

Teutoberg  Forest,  Varus  defeated 
at,  32. 

Teutones,  32. 

Thames,  Danes  appear  on,  181. 

Thanet,  Saxons  appear  at,  69; 
conceded  to  them  by  Vortigern, 
70;  population,  75;  Augustine 
lands  at,  75. 

Theft,  in  the  Salic  law,  62;  Charle- 
magne's legislation  on,  141. 

Thiebault,  count  palatine  of  Troyes, 
grants  fief  to  Jocelyn  d'Avalon, 
216. 

Thrace,  selected  as  a  haven  by  the 
Visigoths,  35;  conceded  to  them 
by  Valens,  36. 

Toulouges,  Council  of,  decrees 
Peace  and  Truce  of  God,  229- 
232. 

Toulouse,  Visigothic  capital,  51; 
Syagrius  takes  refuge  at,  51. 

Tours,  Gregory,  bishop  of,  47-48; 
monastery  and  shrine  of  St. 
Martin  at,  48;  Alaric  and  Clovis 
meet  near,  55;  monastery  at 
dedicated  to  St.  Martin,  83; 
truce  of,  439. 

Towns,  lack  of  among  the  early 
Germans,  29;  prevalence  in 
Graeco-Roman  world,  29;  use  of 
in  France,  325;  origins  of,  325- 
326;  classes  of,  326-327;  charter 
of  Laon,  327-328;  charter  of 
Lorris,  328-330. 

Trajan,  wars  in  the  Rhine  country, 
23. 

Trespass,  in  the  Salic  law,  65. 

Tribur,  conference  of  German  no- 
bles at,  274-275. 

Trivium,  145,  339. 

Troyes,  county  of,  215. 

Troyes,  treaty  of,  negotiated,  440- 
441 ;  provisions  of,  443. 

Truce  of  God,  decreed  by  church 
councils,  229;  decree  of  Council 
of  Toulouges,  229-232;  reissued 
by  Council  of  Clermont,  286. 

Turks,  Seljuk,  invasions  of,  282; 


ravages  depicted  by  Pope  Urban, 
285;  defeated  by  crusaders,  293; 
attack  the  Templars,  318;  opera- 
tions against  St.  Louis,  318-322. 

Unam  Sanctam,  issued  by  Boniface 
VIII.,  383-385;  quoted,  385-388. 

Universities,  origins  of  in  Middle 
Ages,  339;  patronage  of  by 
Church  and  temporal  powers, 
340;  privileges  granted  to  stu- 
dents by  Frederick  I.,  341-343; 
by  Philip  Augustus,  343-345; 
rise  in  Germany,  345;  charter  of 
Heidelberg,  345-350;  student 
songs,  351-359. 

Unstrutt,  Henry  IV.'s  victory  at, 
265. 

Urban  II.,  appealed  to  by  Alexius 
Comnenus,  283;  speech  at  Cler- 
mont, 283-288;  appeal  to  the 
French,  284-285 ;  enumerates 
reasons  for  a  crusade,  285-287; 
results  of  speech,  287-288. 

Urban  VI.,  approves  foundation  of 
University  of  Heidelberg,  346; 
elected  pope,  389;  Wyclifs  letter 
to,  475-477. 

Valens,  Visigoths  send  embassy  to, 
35;  flattered  into  acceding  to 
their  request,  36;  seeks  to  quell 
Visigothic  uprising,  37-38;  rash 
resolve  to  attack,  38;  defeat,  41. 

Valentinian  I.,  35. 

Valentinian  III.,  69. 

Varus,  defeated  at  the  Teutoberg 
Forest,  32. 

Vassalage,  origins,  204-205;  rela- 
tions with  patrocinium  and 
comitatus,  205 ;  commendation 
defined,  205;  formula  for  com- 
mendation, 205-206;  relation  to 
benefice,  207;  obligations  of, 
220-221. 

Vecta,  71. 

Venice,  treaty  of,  399. 

Verden,  massacre  of  Saxons  at,- 
117. 


INDEX 


503 


Verdun,  treaty  of,  154-156;  terri- 
torial division  by,  155. 

Vicarius,  functions,  176. 

Victgilsus,  71. 

Vienna,  University  of,  founded,  345. 

Villages,  among  the  early  Ger- 
mans, 30. 

Villes  franches,  nature  of,  326- 
327. 

Villes  libres,  nature  of,  326;  Laon 
as  an  example,  327-328. 

Vincennes,  323. 

Viscount,  functions,  176. 

Visigoths,  invasion  of  the  Roman 
Empire  described  by  Ammianus 
Marcellinus,  32-41 ;  receive  Dacia 
from  Aurelian,  33 ;  threatened  by 
the  Huns,  33;  select  Thrace  as  a 
haven,  35;  send  embassy  to 
Valens,  35;  receive  the  desired 
permission,  36 ;  cross  the  Danube, 
36-37;  terms  of  the  settlement, 
37;  mistreated  by  the  Romans, 
37;  rise  in  revolt,  37;  Valens  re- 
solves to  attack,  38;  advance 
toward  Nice,  38;  defeat  the 
Romans  at  Adrianople,  39-41; 
Alaric,  king  of,  51,  54-55;  de- 
feated by  Clovis,  56;  Amalaric, 
king  of,  retreats  to  Spain,  56; 
new  capital  at  Toledo,  56. 

Vita  Caroli  Magni  (by  Einhard), 
purpose,  109;  value,  109;  trans- 
lation of,  109,  116;  quoted,  109- 
114,  116-118. 

Vitce  Pontificorum  Romanorum, 
quoted,  133-134. 

Vortigern,  king  of  the  Britons,  68; 
invites  Saxons  into  Britain,  69. 

Vortimer,  71. 

Vulcan,  worshipped  by  the  Ger- 
mans, 21,  26. 

Vouille,  Clovis  defeats  Alaric  at,  56. 

Vulgate,  193;  origin  of,  468. 

Wager  of  battle,   discouraged  by 

the  Church,  197. 
Wales,  Christianity  in,  72. 
Wardship,  nature  of,  224;  condi- 


tions of  prescribed  by  Norman 
custom,  224-225;  conditions  of 
defined  in  Great  Charter,  306. 

Warfare,  of  the  early  Germans,  22, 
25-26,  28-29;  of  the  Huns,  45; 
prevalence  in  feudal  times,  228- 
229;  efforts  to  restrict,  229;  de- 
cline of  feudal,  428. 

Weapons,  of  the  early  Germans,  24; 
of  the  Huns,  45. 

Wedmore,  treaty  of,  185. 

Wends,  158,  159,  160. 

Werfrith,  bishop  of  Worcester,  189; 
Alfred's  letter  to,  191-194. 

Wergeld,  65;  in  the  Salic  law,  67, 
141. 

Werwulf,  of  Mercia,  190. 

Westminster,  William  the  Con- 
queror wears  crown  at,  242. 

Widukind,  account  of  Saxon  con- 
quest, 116. 

William  of  Aquitaine,  letter  of 
Fulbert  of  Chartres  to,  220-221. 

William  the  Conqueror,  power  as 
duke  of  Normandy,  233;  claims 
to  throne  of  England,  234;  pre- 
pares to  invade  England,  234; 
makes  ready  for  battle,  236;  his 
strategem  at  Hastings,  236-237; 
his  valor  in  battle,  237;  his  gov- 
ernment described  in  the  Saxon 
Chronicle,  241-244 ;  religious  zeal, 
242;  extent  of  his  authority,  243; 
forest  laws,  244. 

William,  count  of  Flanders,  hom- 
age and  fealty  to,  218-219. 

William  of  Holland,  claimant  to 
imperial  title,  334. 

William  of  Jumieges,  165. 

William  of  Malmesbury,  sketch  of, 
235;  author  of  Chronicle  of  the 
Kings  of  England,  235,  288. 

William  the  Pious,  issues  charter 
for  monastery  at  Cluny,  245; 
motives  for  benefaction,  247: 
land  and  other  property  ceded, 
247-248. 

William  of  St.  Thierry,  biographer 
of  St.  Bernard,  251,  258, 


504 


INDEX 


Wilton,  Alfred  fights  the  Danes  at, 
182. 

Winchester,  William  the  Conqueror 
wears  crown  at,  242;  King  John 
holds  court  at,  299. 

Witan,  194. 

Witchcraft,  in  the  Salic  law,  64. 

Woden,  26,  49,  50,  71,  72,  119, 197. 

Worcester,  Werfrith,  bishop  of,  189. 

Worms,  154;  council  at  decrees 
that  Gregory  VII.  should  abdi- 
cate, 270;  diet  at,  279;  Concor- 


dat of,  279-281;  Rhine  League 
formed  at,  335;  with  Mainz,  to 
be  League's  capital,  337;  juris- 
diction of  bishop  of  over  Uni- 
versity of  Heidelberg,  348,  350. 
Wyclif,  career  of,  474-475. 

Zacharias,  consulted  by  Pepin  the 
Short,  106;  advises  him  to  take 
title  of  king,  107. 

Zaid,  collects  sayings  of  Moham- 
med, 97. 


ESSENTIALS    IN    ANCIENT 
HISTORY     . 

From  the  Earliest  Records  to  Charlemagne.  By  ARTHUR 
MAYER  WOLFSON,  Ph.D.,  First  Assistant  in  His- 
tory, DeWitt  Clinton  High  School,  New  York.  In 
consultation  with  ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART, 
LL.D.,  Professor  of  History,  Harvard  University 

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THIS  volume  belongs  to  the  Essentials  in  History  Series, 
which  follows  the  plan  recommended  by  the  Committee 
of  Seven,  and  adopted  by  the  College  Entrance  Examina- 
tion Board,  and  by  the  New  York  State  Education  Depart- 
ment.     The  pedagogic  apparatus  is  amply  sufficient  for  any 
secondary  school. 

•jj  The  essentials  in  ancient  history  are  presented  as  a  unit, 
beginning  with  the  earliest  civilization  in  the  East,  and  end- 
ing with  the  establishment  of  the  Western  Empire  by  Charle- 
magne. More  attention  is  paid  to  civilization  than  to  mere 
constitutional  development,  the  latter  being  brought  out  in  the 
narrative,  rather  than  as  a  series  of  separate  episodes. 
^[  A  departure  has  been  made  from  the  time-honored  method 
of  carrying  the  subject  down  to  the  end  of  Greek  political  life 
before  beginning  the  story  of  Rome.  The  history  of  the  two 
civilizations  is  not  entirely  distinct ;  hence,  it  has  seemed  wise, 
after  completing  the  account  of  the  life  and  work  of  Alexan- 
der, to  tell  the  story  of  the  beginnings  of  Rome.  Afterwards 
the  history  of  the  East  is  resumed,  and  carried  on  to  the  point 
where  it  merges  into  that  of  Rome.  Should  any  teacher, 
however,  prefer  the  old  method  of  treating  the  two  nations, 
he  has  only  to  take  up  Chapters  XXIV  and  XXV  before 
Chapters  XVIII  to  XXIII.  The  Roman  Empire,  a  very 
important  but  much  neglected  period  of  history,  is  brought 
out  in  its  just  proportions,  and  with  reference  to  the  events 
which  had  the  greatest  influence. 


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ESSENTIALS    IN    ENGLISH 
HISTORY 

From  the  Earliest  Records  to  the  Present  Day.  By  ALBERT 
PERRY  WALKER,  A.M.,  Master  in  History,  Eng- 
lish High  School,  Boston.  In  consultation  with  ALBERT 
BUSHNELL  HART,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  History, 
Harvard  University 

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LIKE  the  other  volumes  of  the  Essentials  in  History  Series, 
j  this  text-book  is  intended  to  form  a  year's  work  in 
secondary  schools,  following  out  the  recommendation 
of  the  Committee  of  Seven,  and  meeting  the  requirements  of 
the  College  Entrance  Examination  Board,  and  of  the  New 
York  State  Education  Department.  It  contains  the  same 
general  features,  the  same  pedagogic  apparatus,  and  the  same 
topical  method  of  treatment.  The  text  is  continuous,  the 
sectional  headings  being  placed  in  the  margin.  The  maps 
and  illustrations  are  worthy  of  special  mention. 
^[  The  book  is  a  model  of  good  historical  exposition,  un- 
usually clear  in  expression,  logical  and  coherent  in  arrange- 
ment, and  accurate  in  statement.  The  essential  facrs  in  the 
development  of  the  British  Empire  are  vividly  described,  and 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  is  clearly  brought  out. 
•[[  The  treatment  begins  with  a  brief  survey  of  the  whole 
course  of  English  history,  deducing  therefrom  three  general 
movements :  ( 1 )  the  fusing  of  several  races  into  the  Eng- 
lish people ;  ( 2 )  the  solution  by  that  people  of  two  great 
problems:  free  and  democratic  home  government,  and  prac- 
tical, enlightened  government  of  foreign  dependencies;  and 
(3)  the  extreme  development  of  two  great  fields  of  industry, 
commerce  and  manufacture.  The  narrative  follows  the 
chronological  order,  and  is  full  of  matter  which  is  as  interest- 
ing as  it  is  significant,  ending  with  a  masterly  summary  of 
England's  contribution  to  civilization. 


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ESSENTIALS    IN   AMERICAN 
HISTORY 

From  the  Discovery  to  the  Present  Day.  By  ALBERT. 
BUSHNELL  HART,  LL.D.„  Professor  of  History, 
Harvard  University 

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PROFESSOR  HART  was  a  member  of  the  Committee 
of  Seven,  and  consequently  is  exceptionally  qualified  to 
supervise  the  preparation  of  a  series  of  text-books  which 
carry  out  the  ideas  of  that  Committee.  The  needs  of  sec- 
ondary schools,  and  the  entrance  requirements  to  all  colleges, 
are  fully  met  by  the  Essentials  in  History  Series. 
^j  This  volume  reflects  in  an  impressive  manner  the  writer's 
broad  grasp  of  the  subject,  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
relative  importance  of  events,  his  keen  insight  into  the  cause 
and  effect  of  each  noteworthy  occurrence,  and  his  thorough 
familiarity  with  the  most  helpful  pedagogical  features — all  of 
which  make  the  work  unusually  well  suited  to  students. 
*^[  The  purpose  of  the  book  is  to  present  an  adequate  descrip- 
tion of  all  essential  things  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  country, 
and  to  supplement  this  by  good  illustrations  and  maps. 
Political  geography,  being  the  background  of  all  historical 
knowledge,  is  made  a  special  topic,  while  the  development  of 
government,  foreign  relations,  the  diplomatic  adjustment  of 
controversies,  and  social  and  economic  conditions  have  been 
duly  emphasized. 

^|  All  sections  of  the  Union,  North,  East,  South,  West,  and 
Far  West,  have  received  fair  treatment.  Much  attention  is 
paid  to  the  causes  and  results  of  our  various  wars,  but  only  the 
most  significant  battles  and  campaigns  have  been  described. 
The  book  aims  to  make  distinct  the  character  and  public 
services  of  some  great  Americans,  brief  accounts  of  whose  lives 
are  given  in  special  sections  of  the  text.  Towards  the  end  a 
chapter  sums  up  the  services  of  America  to  mankind. 


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GREEK   AND    ROMAN 
HISTORIES 

By  WILLIAM  C.  MOREY,  Professor  of  History 
and  Political  Science,  University  of  Rochester 

Each,  $1.00 

THESE  two  books  present  a  somewhat  fuller  course  than 
that  given  in  the  author's  single  volume,  Outlines  of  An- 
cient History.  Each  is  written  in  a  simple,  interesting 
style,  and  is  distinguished  by  the  same  pedagogical  features, 
such  as  the  topical  method,  progressive  maps,  etc. 
If  MOREY'S  OUTLINES  OF  GREEK  HISTORY, 
which  is  introduced  by  a  brief  sketch  of  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization before  the  time  of  the  Greeks  among  the  Oriental 
peoples,  pays  greater  attention  to  the  civilization  of  ancient 
Greece  than  to  its  political  history.  The  author  has  endeav- 
ored to  illustrate  by  facts  the  most  important  and  distinguishing 
traits  of  the  Grecian  character  ;  to  explain  why  the  Greeks 
failed  to  develop  a  national  state  system,  although  successful 
to  a  considerable  extent  in  developing  free  institutions  and  an 
organized  city  state  ;  and  to  show  the  great  advance  made  by 
the  Greeks  upon  the  previous  culture  of  the  Orient. 
%  MOREY'S  OUTLINES  OF  ROMAN  HISTORY 
gives  the  history  of  Rome  to  the  revival  of  the  empire  by 
Charlemagne.  Only  those  facts  and  events  which  illustrate 
the  real  character  of  the  Roman  people,  which  show  the 
progressive  development  of  Rome  as  a  world  power,  and 
which  explain  the  influence  that  Rome  has  exercised  upon 
modern  civilization,  have  been  emphasized.  The  genius  of 
the  Romans  for  organization,  which  gives  them  their  dis- 
tinctive place  in  history,  is  kept  prominently  in  mind,  and 
the  kingdom,  the  republic,  and  the  empire  are  seen  to  be  but 
successive  stages  in  the  growth  of  a  policy  to  bring  together 
and  organize  the  various  elements  of  the  ancient  world. 

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OUTLINES     OF    GENERAL 
HISTORY 

By  FRANK  MOORE  COLBY,  M.A.,  recently  Professor 
of  Economics,  New  York  University 

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THIS  volume  provides  at  once  a  general  foundation  for 
historical  knowledge  and  a  stimulus  for  further  reading. 
It  gives  each  period  and  subject  its  proper  historical 
perspective,  and  provides  a  narrative  which  is    clear,   con- 
nected, and  attractive.      From  first  to  last  only  information 
that  is  really  useful  has  been  included. 

^|  The  history  is  intended  to  be  suggestive  and  not  exhaus- 
tive. Although  the  field  covered  is  as  wide  as  possible,  the 
limitations  of  space  have  obliged  the  writer  to  restrict  the 
scope  at  some  points ;  this  he  has  done  in  the  belief  that  it  is 
preferable  to  giving  a  mere  catalogue  of  events.  For  exam- 
ple, the  history  of  the  United  States  has  not  been  included, 
while  that  of  the  non-Aryan  peoples,  especially  since  the 
beginning  of  the  mediaeval  period,  has  not  received  the 
attention  that  has  been  given  to  the  races  to  which  the  lead- 
ing nations  of  the  world  belong.  The  chief  object  of 
attention  in  the  chapters  on  mediaeval  and  modern  history  is 
the  European  nations,  and  in  treating  them  an  effort  has 
been  made  to  trace  their  development  as  far  as  possible  in  a 
connected  narrative,  indicating  the  causal  relations  of  events. 
Special  emphasis  is  given  to  the  great  events  of  recent  times. 
^[  The  book  is  plentifully  supplied  with  useful  pedagogical 
features.  The  narrative  follows  the  topical  manner  of  treat- 
ment, and  is  not  over-crowded  with  names  and  dates.  The 
various  historical  phases  and  periods  are  clearly  shown  by  a 
series  of  striking  progressive  maps,  many  of  which  are  printed 
in  colors.  The  illustrations  are  numerous  and  finely  exe- 
cuted. Each  chapter  closes  with  a  summary  and  synopsis 
for  review,  covering  all  matters  of  importance. 


AMERICAN    BOOK     COMPANY 


COMPOSITION-RHETORIC 

$  i  .00 

By  STRATTON  D.  BROOKS,  Superintendent  of  Schools, 
Boston,  Mass.,  and  MARIETTA  HUBBARD,  for- 
merly English  Department,  High  School,    La  Salle,  111. 


THE  fundamental  aim  of  this  volume  is  to  enable  pupils 
to  express  their  thoughts  freely,  clearly,  and  forcibly. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  designed  to  cultivate  literary 
appreciation,  and  to  develop  some  knowledge  of  rhetorical 
theory.  The  work  follows  closely  the  requirements  of  the 
College  Entrance  Examination  Board,  and  of  the  New  York 
State  Education  Department. 

^j  In  Part  One  are  given  the  elements  of  description,  narra- 
tion, exposition,  and  argument ;  also  special  chapters  on  letter- 
writing  and  poetry.  A  more  complete  and  comprehensive 
treatment  of  the  four  forms  of  discourse  already  discussed  is 
furnished  in  Part  Two.  In  each  part  is  presented  a  series  of 
themes  covering  these  subjects,  the  purpose  being  to  give  the 
pupil  inspiration,  and  that  confidence  in  himself  which  comes 
from  the  frequent  repetition  of  an  act.  A  single  new  princi- 
ple is  introduced  into  each  theme,  and  this  is  developed  in  the 
text,  and  illustrated  by  carefully  selected  examples.  These 
principles  are  referred  to  again  and  again  as  the  subject 
grows. 

^[  The  pupils  are  taught  how  to  correct  their  own  errors, 
and  also  how  to  get  the  main  thought  in  preparing  their 
lessons.  Careful  coordination  with  the  study  of  literature 
and  with  other  school  studies  is  made  throughout  the  book. 
^|  The  modern  character  of  the  illustrative  extracts  can  not  fail 
to  interest  every  boy  and  girl.  Concise  summaries  are  given 
following  the  treatment  of  the  various  forms  of  discourse,  and 
toward  the  end  of  the  book  there  is  a  very  comprehensive  and 
compact  summary  of  grammatical  principles.  More  than  usual 
attention  is  devoted  to  the  treatment  of  argument.  The  ap- 
pendix contains  the  elements  of  form,  the  figures  of  speech,  etc. 


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TEXT-BOOKS    ON    ALGEBRA 

By   WILLIAM    J.    MILNE,    Ph.D.,   LL.D.,    President 
New  York  State  Normal  College,   Albany,   N.  Y. 


ACADEMIC  ALGEBRA $1.25 

MORE  extended  and  more  comprehensive  than  Milne's 
High  School  Algebra,  this  work  not  merely  states  the 
principles  and  laws  of  algebra,  but  establishes  them 
by  rigorous  proofs.  The  student  first  makes  proper  infer- 
ences, then  expresses  the  inferences  briefly  and  accurately, 
and  finally  proves  their  truth  by  deductive  reasoning.  The 
definitions  are  very  complete,  and  special  applications  and 
devices  have  been  added.  The  examples  are  numerous  and 
well  graded,  and  the  explanations  which  accompany  the 
processes,  giving  a  more  intelligent  insight  into  the  various 
steps,  constitute  a  valuable  feature.  The  book  meets  the 
requirements  in  algebra  for  admission  to  all  of  the  colleges. 

ADVANCED  ALGEBRA $1.50 


THIS  book  covers  fully  all  college  and  scientific  school 
entrance  requirements  in  advanced  algebra.  While 
the  earlier  pages  are  identical  with  the  author's 
Academic  Algebra,  more  than  160  pages  of  new  matter 
have  been  added.  Among  the  new  subjects  considered 
are  :  incommensurable  numbers,  mathematical  induction, 
probability,  simple  continued  fractions,  the  theory  of  num- 
bers, determinants,  convergency  of  series,  exponential  and 
logarithmic  series,  summation  of  series,  and  the  theory  of 
equations,  including  graphical  representation  of  functions  of 
one  variable,  and  approximation  to  incommensurable  roots. 
Over  5,000  unsolved  exercises  and  problems  are  included  in 
the  book.      The  treatment  is  full,  rigorous,  and  scientific. 


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INTRODUCTION     TO 
AMERICAN    LITERATURE 

$I.OO 

By  BRANDER  MATTHEWS,  A.M.,  LL.B.,  Professor 
of  Literature,  Columbia  University 


PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT,  in  an  extended  and  ap- 
preciative review  in  The  Bookman  says:  "The  book  is  a 
piece  of  work  as  good  of  its  kind  as  any  American  scholar 
has  ever  had  in  his  hands.  It  is  just  the  kind  of  book  that 
should  be  given  to  a  beginner,  because  it  will  give  him  a  clear 
idea  of  what  to  read,  and  of  the  relative  importance  of  the 
authors  he  is  to  read;  yet  it  is  much  more  than  merely 
a  book  for  beginners.  Any  student  of  the  subject  who 
wishes  to  do  good  work  hereafter  must  not  only  read  Mr.  . 
Matthews'  s  book,  but  must  largely  adopt  Mr.  Matthews' s 
way  of  looking  at  things,  for  these  simply  written,  unpreten- 
tious chapters  are  worth  many  times  as  much  as  the  pon- 
derous tomes  which  contain  what  usually  passes  for  criticism; 
and  the  principles  upon  which  Mr.  Matthews  insists  with 
such  quiet  force  and  good  taste  are  those  which  must  be 
adopted,  not  only  by  every  student  of  American  writings, 
but  by  every  American  writer,  if  he  is  going  to  do  what  is 
really  worth  doing.  There  is  little  room  for  division  of 
opinion  as  to  the  excellence  of  Mr.  Matthews' s  arrangement 
as  a  whole,  and  as  to  the  soundness  of  his  judgments.  He 
preserves  always  the  difficult  balance  between  sympathy  and 
justice.  ...  In  short,  Mr.  Matthews  has  produced  an 
admirable  book,  both  in  manner  and  matter,  and  has  made  a 
distinct  addition  to  the  very  literature  of  which  he  writes." 
^[  The  book  is  amply  provided  with  pedagogical  features. 
Each  chapter  includes  questions  for  review,  bibliographical 
notes,  facsimiles  of  manuscripts,  and  portraits,  while  at  the  end 
of  the  volume  is  a  brief  chronology  of  American  literature. 


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